


Old fashioned Disaster

by NickHopps_JudyWilde



Category: Zootopia
Genre: F/M, Heartbreak
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-09-27
Updated: 2016-11-05
Packaged: 2018-08-18 05:31:27
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 30,084
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8150816
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NickHopps_JudyWilde/pseuds/NickHopps_JudyWilde
Summary: this story will put you through a roller coaster of emotions. I know it has put me through many and I'm the writer. Saying this now, the first chapter, I DO NOT own. It was written by someone else but decided not to write more so I took it and resumed. I will try and post the chapters as much as possible. I hope you like it!





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This is the first chapter to "Old Fashioned Disaster" enjoy. 
> 
>  
> 
> (Again, not the owner of this chapter. All the rest is my work)

“Look at this.” She said, a tickled smirk and a slight bite to her lip.   
“Oh my god… that is so… precious!” Her sister oozed and squirmed in her seat.  
It was a photo from her phone of just two weeks after they’d become official. They were in the park and she stood with her back to him. He’d arched over her and kissed the bridge of her nose before she’d had a chance to notice him, or her mother taking the picture.   
“I almost want to hang it in my living room.” Her sister held it out, admiring it from different angles. “You lucked out Judy,” she sighed.  
“I know…” she folded her arms on the dining room table to be her pillow as she laid her head down. “He can be a big softy sometimes… when he wants to be,” she sighed.   
“…” Her sister heard gloominess in that sigh. “Everything OK?”  
She took a quick look over her elbow before turning away again. “I just-… I just wish he’d want to be more often…”   
As she buried her head in her arms, her sister watched with a pained expression.  
“Did you guys get in a fight?” She asked.  
Judy didn’t reply but gave a delicate nod from between her forearms.  
“What about?”   
Muffled by her arms, she gave a reply. “I don’t wanna’ talk about it.”  
“I can’t hear you, Judy,” her sister prodded. “Why don’t you sit up, huh?”  
With an aggravated groan she lifted herself up, only to flop in the opposite direction. “He’s too pushy sometimes.” She grumbled and draped herself dramatically over the backrest of the seat. “He wants to-…”  
As her sentiment trailed off, her sister pushed her to finish it, “wants to what?”  
While she frowned, Judy brought her hands up in front of her. She balled them into fists and started bumping them together and making listless grunts. Her sister was perplexed.  
“I… don’t really-” she mumbled with confusion.  
Judy ran her hands through her scalp in annoyance and leaned forward in her seat. This time, she extended her index finger and made a circle with the other hand… and inserted it.   
“You guys haven’t had sex yet!?” She shouted in shock.  
As Judy shushed her sister, more muffled shouting came from the next apartment over. “Hey keep it down in there!” accompanied by a thud on the wall.   
“Shut up I wanna hear this!” “Oh, you would!” “Shut up you never have anything good to say!” “You shut up!”  
Enraged, Judy slammed her hand down on the table rattling the various kitchenware in her cabinet. It seemed to be effective in silencing her prying neighbors, but there was no respite before her sister began laying into her.   
“What is the holdup!?” Despite her annoyance she proceeded in muted shouts, “it’s been six months Judy, no wonder he’s upset!”  
“It’s not that easy alright!?” In similar fashion she responded, adding “calm down” gesture with her hands. “He’s a fox…”  
Her sister didn’t respond immediately. Instead, she gave Judy a confused and intrigued look. As if prodding her again to elaborate. Judy’s reply was to turn away pushing her hands into the seat between her legs.   
“Like I said-… he’s a fox,” her voice cracked with tension. “It could end up… not working or-… it could… hurt.” With the humiliation of their topic of conversation, her ears came down almost instinctively to hide her face.   
“Ok,” her sister surrendered. She slumped back into her seat and crossed her arms in a huff.   
After a minute of silence, she interjected again.   
“Well, if you’re not ready to deal with it then you need to get your mind off it.” She languidly exhaled. “I didn’t come all the way from Bunnyburrow to watch you mope and fret your way through my visit.”  
Judy perked up a little, “ok.” She grinned and relaxed, relieved to be off of the topic of her love life. “Whadda’ you wanna’ do?” she chirped.   
“Come on it’s me,” her sister sarcastically chortled. “Whaddaya’ think I wanna do?”   
Judy was looking less excited by the moment.   
“Oh… I don’t know Sophy.” She surveyed her apartment nervously. “Me and booze don’t really mix well. I’m telling you, last time was really bad.”   
“I’ll watch out for you.” She said as if it were already decided. “You know me, I could drink a lake of liquor and still beat Jimmy at a spelling bee.”   
They both had a good laugh, it was all true. She was comforted and reassured by her memories of Sophy drinking their mother under the table and still having enough sense left to win an argument with their dad afterward. If she could count on anyone to keep her out of trouble when the creature was involved it was her sister.  
“… I guess.” Reluctantly, and for good reason.  
……………….  
She could vividly remember being very nervous, and reluctant to agree. Beyond that, it was bits and tiny pieces. The sun for some of it and street lights for the rest. Spinning, euphoria-  
“Loneliness?”   
It was a lucid thought, the first to cross her mind since, and it brought her heavy head back to life. The moment she began to stir she regretted it. A deep thumping drum at the base of her brain shot lightning bolts of pain down her arms and legs. Burning up and nauseous, she was disoriented.  
She powered through the pain. Her instinct said “bucket, trashcan, something… now!” She could only find a coffee cup she’d left on the tiny dresser, and as she hung off the edge of her bed she realized she wasn’t alone in her own bed.   
“…Nick?” she grumbled in a daze and reached behind her feeling around for him.  
“Mmmmm…” an unfamiliar moan.  
Her hand was batted away, and the hand that did it was too small.  
A shiver of terror rocked her entire body, big enough that nausea momentarily subsided. She fiercely needed to swallow for the sake of her painfully dry throat, but she had no saliva. Pain stacked on top of pain, on top of paralyzing fear. How she managed to turn around amazed even her.  
When she did her terror was transformed.   
She let out a sharp gasping sob and clutched at her mouth with a violently trembling fist. Horror, sorrow, and most of all regret swallowed her up like a sinkhole. As she shoved him, she frantically looked for her phone… it was after eight in the morning.   
Just as though fate, or god, or the unyielding pull of some all powerful being were punishing her, there came the sound of heavy footsteps in the hall outside her apartment. She’d trained her brain to stay calm in high-intensity situations, and so her first thought was “it could be anybody.”  
If only it could be that easy… a mellow and melodic knocking came from her door.   
She yelped, and forcibly yanked the covers off of her unidentified mistake. “Get up- get up- get the hell out of my house!” she whispered.  
“… Judy?” A familiar muffled voice came through the door.   
She took to slapping him, and as his groans grew loader she clamped her hand down over his mouth. He struggled and pushed her away. Sitting up and about to speak, he was interrupted by Nick’s voice from the other side of that door.   
“C'mon carrots,” he sighed. “Look I-… I know when I’m in the wrong, alright? I’m sorry I was pushy. I promise I won’t bring it up again until you’re ready… and I’ll make it up to you… starting right now.”  
“…” Tears ran off the crests of her cheeks, she’d never felt more rotten in all of her life.  
“C'mon…” Nick pleaded, “Let me in I’ve got presents.” The knob turned, but it was locked.   
In an absolute panic, she panted and stared at the strange rabbit in her bed. He seemed to have finally picked up on what was going on and hurriedly scrambled to get under the bed. She could hear Nick’s keys rattling… too late.  
…  
When he stepped into the doorframe, time froze for all three of them.  Judy’s mortified gaze was glued on his face and nothing else. He looked shocked for that following handful of moments which felt like hours… and then everything went down in flames…  
She gasped in fear as she helplessly watched the pain consume his face like wildfire. His mouth lightly hung open and his jaw trembled. His chest and shoulders began to rise and fall with the onset of adrenalin.   
The bouquet of flowers he’d brought faintly crunched as it hit the floor of her apartment, and with it, she began pleading.  
“Nick… please-… listen to me, it’s not-”  
“IT’S NOT WHAT!?” He yelled, shaking and panting for breath.  
“I-… I never meant to-”  
“Come on Judy!” He viciously growled. She flinched at how forceful it was, she was almost afraid he might hurt her. “I’m talking to you! It’s not WHAT!?”  
As his labored breathing continued, she watched the violent anger subside. What it was replaced with she feared even more than that.  
“Because-… because you know what it-… looks like?” His voice split, showing what he really felt under his raging facade.   
“… Nick,” she whimpered.  
His anger got it’s second wind, and he swiftly scooped up the bouquet of flowers. Without warning, he violently threw it at them. She shrieked as it seemed to almost explode on impact. She was given no more time for bargaining as her entire apartment was rattled by the force of the door slamming behind him.   
She pulled her knees into her chest and slumped forward, yanking her ears and letting out a shrill and powerful scream… when it was quiet again only the sound of crying was left.  
Her paramour rustled around behind her, most likely trying to make a quick exit. She lashed out at him, “Get out! Get out of my house!” she wailed and hit him with her balled up fists. He was able to slither out behind her, collect a few articles of his clothes strewn about the apartment, and look both ways down the hall before ducking out.   
…  
It had’to’ve been quiet for most of the morning until Nick showed up… but it hardly seemed noticeable compared to how suffocating it had become now. All alone again, she cried, bathed gently in the sliver of light left by the front door that unknown bunny had left slightly ajar.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Judy goes looking for Nick

For hours, nothing moved. Everything was quiet. Not even the smallest insect moved. It had seemed like the very time and space had completely stopped in its tracks. All except a bunny, who was in her room, crying her eyes out to the world, turning the whites of her eyes red.

She didn't know how long she had been in that fetal position but she didn't care. The only thing she could think about was the emotion on Nicks' face; heart broken. She could almost see his heart and soul shatter as he saw her and that other bunny in her bed.

Just the thought of Nick made her want to cry even more. "What have I done?!" She cried to herself.

She waited for someone to reply, but no one answered. Not even her nosey neighbors chipped in through the thin walls of her apartment.

With her face in between her legs and her ears down, she could see a couple dozen or so flower petals on the covers of her bed. It was funny to her in a way, the bouquet represented Nicks and her relationship, now in pieces. That made her cry even harder, she knew that Nick would never forgive her for what she did and guessed that her relationship with him was over.

"Oh... Nick" she whimpered softly. She wanted so desperately to turn back time and undo her heart-crushing mistake. "It's all Sophys fault!" She said to herself. "If I hadn't gone with her, none of this would have happened in the first place!" But deep down, Judy couldn't blame her sister, even though she was supposed to watch her drinking.

"Why... Why can't I remember anything? Why did I let some stranger into my house with me?" She questioned to herself. Then she hit her head with a clenched fist, wanting to remember the events that had occurred between last night and the time she woke up. But with her hangover, she immediately got a headache that must of been lurking for a while.

After the throbbing had eased up, she was able to think again. She cried over the thought of sleeping with that unknown bunny. Every time the image of him popped up in her head, she wanted to throw up, but also beat him for causing her so much pain... And tears.

Then, out of the blue, her ears perked up, her stomach turned upside down again, and her mouth started to water. She jumped out of her bed, flew the door open and ran down the hallway to the bathroom as quickly as she could, with a hand over her mouth. When the restroom came into view, she could feel the bile starting to erupt in her stomach.

Once she reached a toilet, her nausea came rushing up her esophagus, burning her throat as it came up. The smell of the bile floating in the already rusty city water smelled profusely of beer and hard liquor. With her ears clamped down to her head and her head still facing the toilet, she didn't notice that there was someone in the stall right next to her.

"Every thing okay over there?" The unknown mammal asked.

Judy yelped in surprise, frantically looking for the mammal who called out to her. She looked over and saw small and grey scaley feet. It was her landlady.

_No, everything is not okay._

"No, no everything is fine," she lied, wiping away the vomit off her lips.

"Rough night?" The armadillo asked.

"Yeah..." Judy replied sadly. You have no idea.

"Anything I can do for you dear?" She persisted.

"No!" Judy snarled at her. The bunny was getting agitated from the armadillos questions. She didn't mean to answer her like that though; she was just upset with herself.

Judy sighed. "I'm sorry ma'am. I'm just not in the mood for questions at the moment" she apologized, closing her eyes and putting her ears down.

"Okay dear, let me know if you need anything". Judy knew what she wanted, and that was miles away by now.

After talking to the old armadillo for a couple more minutes, Judy walked back to her room. Her stomach felt better but she started getting a terrible migraine. With every step she took, she could feel the pain immense.

Her ears went down behind her head as she brought a hand up to her temple, trying desperately to ease the pain.

"I'm never drinking again," she vowed to herself. "Stupid, dumb bunny!" she exclaimed to herself. That's something that Nick would say to her, teasingly.

Judy closed the door behind her, and sat down. She felt her heart break again to the thought of him. "I'm... I'm sorry Nick" she sniffled. "Please... Please let me explain!" she whimpered, looking up towards her ceiling, hoping a higher power would send her message to him. She planted her face in the crotch of her legs, and let out a long, heavy sigh.

When she looked back up, she saw the broken bouquet lying on the hardwood floor beside her bed. She rubbed her shoulder where the flowers hit, not that it hurt her, but because of what it meant when it hit her: that she was a dumb, cheating bunny who deserved everything that's happening to her.

Judy knew she shouldn't think about it, but she blamed herself so much because of what she did to Nick that she couldn't stop.

Her lights were off and the only thing that portrayed in was the sun gleaming through her shades, the warm rays shining on her chest.

She took another glance at the bouquet because she saw something odd hanging out from the end.

Then a knock on the door. Judy whipped her head around to her door, jumped up, and grabbed the door knob, hoping that Nick had come back to let her explain.

She dashed to the door with a smile and tears in her eyes, turned the knob as quickly as she could and swung it open. Her tall, Hawaiian shirt with a tie around his neck fox wasn't standing in front of her; it was the rabbit she had slept with. He lifted his hand in a greeting gesture.

Anger immediately overcame Judy as she stared at him, wanting to desperately punch him in the face. Her nose twitched several times. She inhaled and clenched her fists, holding back her fury that was knocking at her mental door step.

"What do you want?" She scowled at the bunny, scrunching her brow.

His ears went down, frightened from her tone. His hand went down right to his side and he shifted his feet, ready to dash. "I... I just wanted to say I... I'm sorry," he stuttered. "If I had known you had a boyfriend, I wouldn't have asked you if you wanted to go to your place" he exclaimed.

She scowled at him. "Oh, you're sorry?" She sarcastically replied. "So..." She began as she paced in front of her doorway with her hands behind her back. "You take me home, knowing damn well that I was drunk and had no idea what I was saying or doing, and decided to have sex with me?!" She yelled, stopping to stare at him again.

"I asked you before hand and you said 'uh huh'. Like I said if I knew you were already dating a fox, I wouldn't have even asked or even talked to you," he said defensively. "Anyways, you were the one who came on to me."

She thought she felt her soul shatter even more. _I... I can't believe what I'm hearing_. "You... You're lying!" She wailed.

He shook his head. "No, I wish I was."

Tears once again fell down her cheek, splashing on the floor by her feet. The air around them became stagnant, leaving Judy gasping for air. She kneeled down, covering her hands with her hands, not wanting the other rabbit to see her tears.

She couldn't even comprehend the damage she had created. _Just because of one fight about me not being ready to have sex, I go and cheat on the love of my life, with some random rabbit who... Who wanted to just have a fling and doesn't even look remotely attractive to me at all?_

But like a switch, her anger increased tenfold and her ears flew up as she felt her face and ears start to burn with anger. She shot her head up, her eyes filled with hate and fury as she stared at the rabbit dead in the eyes.

"I must have forgotten to tell you in my drunken state that I'm also a police officer of the ZPD?"

His eyes went wide in fear as he began to back up away from her. "That's right," she smiled deviously as she stood up, still keeping her deep gaze upon the now quivering rabbit. "Now... You have one of two options. One: I arrest you for rape. Yes I can arrest you because I was still drunk. Two: you leave here now and never step foot in this apartment again. Because if I see you again," she grabbed him by the collar of his shirt with a sadistic scowl, looking deep into his eyes, almost into his soul. "I will not hesitate to hurt you until you aren't recognizable anymore!"

She gave him another look up and down and smirked with disgust and pushed him into the hallway, slamming the door in his face.

From behind the door, she let out a sigh, calming down almost instantly. Most of the things she said were true, but she could never hurt anyone like she said she would.

She looked down to her feet and dropped her ears down to her side. "I guess I got my intimidation methods from you, Nick," she said with a half sad, half smile smirk. She was proud of herself for taking a stand against that jerk, but she still felt responsible for what she did to her fox.

She then remembered about the bouquet on the floor. She turned around and accidentally looked at the sun's rays. Her pupils dilated and fluxed between the darkness of her room and the bright rays.

She squinted her eyes until her pupils adjusted to the light. "Dammit!" she exclaimed harshly.

She looked down again at the bouquet, now able to see the silhouette. As she got closer, she saw the end of a rose. It was different from the ones that normally came out of Flora & Faunas flower shop.

She picked it up, and saw that it was amethyst, just like her eyes. She turned the rose, and saw that the other side was a shade of deep green, just like Nick's were. Along the side of it, a note was wrapped around the stem, with a red ribbon neatly tied around it.

She untied the note and unrolled it.

_Carrots, I know that I've been pushy with you lately about taking the next step in our relationship. I've just been so eager lately that I forgot to think about your feelings and what you must be thinking. That's me huh? A dumb fox. I don't mean to drive you away and I just want you to know that I'm sorry. I won't bring it up until I know you're 100 percent ready to take that step. And the things I've said, I didn't mean at all. I went over the top of my head but I knew I was in the wrong. I love you Carrots, more than anything in this world. You're the love of my life._

_-Your dumb fox, Nick_

During the entire note, she could feel her throat swelling up. But when she read the last few sentences, she just let the tears flow out.

She loved him too, more than he could ever know. She wanted him more than ever, just to see him, hug him tightly like she always did whenever they were together, kiss him like it was going to be their last.

She wiped away her tears and sniffled. "I love you too Nick," she said with new anticipation in her voice. "I will make this up to you even if I have to make it up to for a million years."

She placed the rose next to her heart, feeling it beat with love and intensity again. Judy knew that the rose symbolized her and Nick, and how they wanted a future together.

She walked over to her desk on the wall and reached for the photo frame of her and Nicks first picture as a couple where they kissed each other for the first time . "This will be us again Nick". She then placed the rose on the desk in front of the picture.

She put on a pink shirt with a 4 leaf clover on it (she wanted to feel lucky), slipped on a pair of shorts and headed out to the streets of Zootopia, hoping she would be able to find Nick, so she can prove to him that what she had done wasn't of her own will.


	3. Chapter 3

Hours passed by, still no sign of Nick. Judy looked everywhere she could possibly think of: The Fox's Den, where Nick and her had their first date as a couple, his apartment and ZPDs headquarters where she asked Clauwhouser, Chief Bogo, and many other of the ZPD officers if they had seen Nick around. All of them said no; and each one made her spirit diminish more than the last.

She decided then to look for him in busiest and the most crowded streets in Zootopia: downtown Sahara Square.

Judy new finding Nick would be like trying to find a needle in a haystacks; a largely filled haystack with thousands of other mammals in it. Nick was a fox, it was in his nature to be able to hide easily amongst a crowd, and also because he was a lot smaller than all the other animals in Zootopia.

It was rush hour by the time Judy had started walking around town looking for Nick. Mammals about 10 times her size roamed the streets like giraffes, elephants, hippos, and my others and cars blared their horns at the other animals walking the streets so they could get back home as fast as possible.

"For crapes sake this is ridiculous" she said out loud as she was tossed around amongst the crowd.

She tried moving between their feet, due her quick rabbit agility but to no prevail. It was busier than normal.

 _Of course it is. It would be way busier when I'm trying to find Nick!_   
She couldn't freak out, not when she still had a reputation to uphold with the ZPD, not in front of all of these other animals.

She ignored the voices in her head, when she saw about 50 yards in front of her, an orange silhouette of a fox, wearing what appeared to be a green Hawaiian styled shirt.

Her ears perked up happily and she couldn't contain her happiness. "Nick!" she cried out. The fox didn't turn around. She kept yelling his name but each time she did, the fox just kept walking with the crowd.

"Dumb fox". She went down on all fours and started dashing through the crowd. She even went through side venders and under parked cars to try and catch up to the fox. She couldn't count how many times she almost got trampled over or how many other animals she bumped into, but honestly, she didn't care. The only thing that was on her mind was Nick.

The fox then turned right, down an alley.

She hopped as fast as she could but the larger mammals in front of her, a male elephant wearing a three piece suit, a hippo carrying bags of fruits and vegetables, and a grizzly bear couple holding hands, blocked her path, making her stop abruptly. She stood on her toes to try and see through their legs and moving her head every-which-way so she wouldn't loose sight of him.

Judy, already aggravated, clenched a fist, furrowed her brow and growled to herself. She didn't realize it at first but she was thinking of many ways on how she was going to apologize to Nick so she could try and convince him that she still loved him the same. The thoughts rolled through her head a million miles an hour, too fast for her to even concentrate on what she was saying.

Eventually, a small gap, just big enough for her to fit in opened up between the bears and the hippo. She shot through with amazing speed that before she knew it, she was ten feet in front of them. What she didn't realize was that she knocked the hippos' groceries out of his hooves, sending the many different fruits and vegetables in every direction.

The bunny skidded to a stop to look back. An expression of worry drew across her face as the hippo angrily cursed at her, shaking his fist in the air towards her. "Sorry, sorry!" she yelled back at him, waving back at him. She really was sorry, but she had to catch up to the fox.

She turned back around and started running again. The alley came up faster than she thought, and she took a quick veer to the right, sliding from the wet pavement to the building on the other side.

She shook off the daze from the hit she took from the slide, rubbing her shoulder. She looked down the alley and there, walking about and looking around, was the fox, the one she had been searching for all day, the one she had wanted to apologize to ever since he left her apartment for hurting him.

"Nick! Oh, Nick!" She yelled out, tears welling up in her eyes. She began to reach out, ready to hug him as soon as he turned around. Her mouth couldn't decide whether to tremble or smile, it was practically doing both at the same time.

When she was about a second away from jumping at him, he turned around. Her arms went down by themselves, quickly. Tears began at the corner of her eyes but didn't roll down her face and her smile went away.

It wasn't Nick. This fox had a mostly red face with a couple black lines down between his ears with a couple of scars on his left cheek. His eyes were amber, and his ears were all black, something she should have noticed before. "Who are you?" he asked with a stern scowl on his face.

Her ears set down behind her head, with an apologetic stare on her face. "I'm... I'm sorry," she backed away. "I thought you were someone I knew..." she trailed off to look back down on her feet. She then turned back around and paced away, disappointment filling her soul.

She now only had two more places to check: Mr. Bigs' home and under the bridge when they had their first misunderstanding.

When she went to Mr. Bigs' house, she was greeted by Fru Fru, who as always was happy to see her. When Mr. Big came out, they kissed each other on the cheek, their normal greeting.

"What brings you here my child?" he asked happily.

"Well... It's about me and Nick" she replied with sadness in her voice, drooping her ears. Everyone knew about their relationship except Chief Bogo, so she had no trouble explaining to Mr. Big.

She told them everything that had happened, from the argument, to her sister coming over, all the way to when Nick found her sleeping with another bunny. "And now, I'm here".

Mr. Big never expressed his emotions too forward but Judy could see a hint of remorse in his eyes. Fru Fru on the other hand, was a different story. "I am so _sowry_ Judy!" The little rodent exclaimed. She looked at her father. "Aren't we daddy?"

"Yes. I'm very sorry to hear that" he replied bluntly.

"Thank you," Judy said softly, facing away from Mr. Big and Fru Fru.

A long silence filled the room. Even the polar bears in the room stood uncomfortable.

Then Mr. Big broke the silence. "Do you still love Nick?"

Her ears perked up faster than she had anticipated which moved her head along with them. "Yes! Of course!" She said with passion in her voice. "I love him more than anything else."

"Then you need to prove that to him my child," he pointed at her chest, towards her heart. "And don't just say it to him, let him feel it in his heart, his soul, his very being."

"His heart?" She repeated. "How can I do that when I ripped it to shreds?" her ears slowly placed themselves on the back of her head again. The memory shot back in her mind, when her fear of losing him had happened.

"You're the key to fixing his heart Judy". She had never heard the rodent call her by her name before, and that made her look back at him, with clarity in her eyes.

 _He's right. I know I have to prove to him that I still love him, but telling him won't be enough_ , Judy thought to herself.

" _Aaawwooo_ daddy you're suach a romantic" Fru Fru said, giving her dad a loving hug as she giggled.

"Mmmm," he began. "Relationships take time and work. That's why me and your mother love each other as much as we do," referring to Fru Fru. "No one is perfect, and I know I'm not. But, even after I made mistakes, after all the hardships we went through together, your mother was still there by my side. Point is my child," he motioned to Judy for her to come closer. She knelt down so that she was eye level with him. "There will be hardships, can't have a relationship without 'em, but if I know Nick, which I do, he loves you too. But right now, he's gonna be hurting, probably more than you can comprehend. But when you see him next, don't rush it. He will be furious with you for a while, won't say hardly, if anything at all, but when he wraps his mind around it, that you are _truly_ sorry, then he will come back to you". He placed his small hand on one of Judy's fingers, giving her a warm, comforting smile.

**********

She talked for a little bit longer, then left, giving her gratitude for all that Mr. Big had told her.

"I will have my guys keep an eye out for him for you. And if we see him, you'll be the first to know" was the last thing he said to her before she left.

She had one more place to check: the bridge.

The light of the sun had almost vanished behind the buildings by the time she cut through the park, a shorter way to get to the bridge. Twilights Sky was peeking through the vanishing clouds, allowing the city lights to shine brightly up into the depths of space.

How many times had they just lied down in the grass on the outskirts of Zootopia, looking up at the stars and talking about everything; life, their future, kids, what they like, or just looking into each other's eyes? She didn't know, but she knew that she loved every second of those moments. Just being next to him, knowing that he would protect her with his life, made her love him even more. In a way, she almost took those moments for granted, but now, she wished she could go back in time, hold him close and kiss him and never let him go.

A car blazed by, bringing her back to reality. She was at the bridge. How she got there so quickly she had no idea. Maybe it was her sense of Deja Vú. It had been over a year since the last time she was here. That was the day she realized that she loved him, and he knew it back then too.

She looked down, with the dim light of a street lamps, she saw that the chair he was sitting in was still there, now rotting away from all of the weather it went through.

She cupped her hands around her mouth. "Nick?" She called out.

No answer. She called out a couple more times, but no answers. She jumped down, and walked to the mouth of the tunnel. "Nick?" She yelled out, hearing her voice echo down the pitch black tunnel.

Nothing. Not even the wind moved. With disappointment, she walked back up onto the bridge, and began walking back to her apartment.

Most of the way, she had to keep her head and ears down, not wanting anyone to see the tears creeping their way out of the corners of her eyes.

Before she knew it, she had reached her dreary apartment building. As she walked up the flights of stairs to her room, she could hear her noisy antelope neighbors, yelling at each other with "shut up!" and "No, you shut up!"

Normally Judy didn't mind their obnoxious and very loud attitudes, but tonight, she was... Let's say, not as willing to listen to it as she normally would. Her emotions were mixed, making her unaware of what she was going to do or say, and as their voices got closer, the more agitated she became. She had forgotten to eat or drink anything throughout the day, and with her migraine from this morning, flared up again.

Finally reaching the hallway to her apartment, she walked down past her door stomping her feet with intent, and went directly to her neighbors.

Three knocks. No one came to the door. Five more knocks, this time faster and a lot louder. The yelling stopped. "D'you hear that?" One of the brothers inside asked.

"Yeah, sounds like someone at the door" the other replied. She heard footsteps coming towards the door, waiting for it to swing open.

It flung open. _How'd I guess_?

He was wearing a greasy red collared shirt that looked like he hadn't washed it in days. "What do you want bunny?" He asked with an attitude.

She clamped her hands together, in an explaining stance. "Listen, I've had a really long, and stressful day, and I would really appreciate it if you _and_ your brother would keep it down for the night."

He crossed his arms. "And what will you do about it if we don't?" He threatened.

She scoffed. "Then I can have the ZPD deal with you two, if that's how you want to play it" she replied back with dignity, also crossing her arms while staring back at him.

He thought hard for a second, then his eyes grew big, understanding that she wasn't joking. She kept staring at him, not blinking for even a second.

"Fine" he faltered. But instead of slamming it shut, he slowly eased it shut, looking back at her one last time.

When he disappeared behind the door, she found her composure and walked back to her room.

The tired bunny locked the door behind her, and went directly to the bed, falling face first into her pillow. She hadn't realized it until that moment, how exhausted she really was. She had another half of Zootopia to check and it was only Saturday night. Tomorrow she will check the rain forest district, which was the biggest and easiest area to hide in.

Her phone vibrated on the wooden table, perking her ears up and turning her head. Judy had totally forgotten that she had left it. She forced herself off the bed and looked at her phone. At that moment, the brightness was all the way up, making Judy squint.

She had received a couple dozen text messages from Fru Fru, Clawhouser, talking about another new app he had started using, and... Her sister, Sophy, from last night.

She glared at her phone, debating whether to read her message.

After some consideration, she rolled her eyes, and unlocked her phone.

_Hey Judy. I had a really awesome night last night! I know you did too ;) haha that bunny you took home was awful cute too!_

Her hands trembled in anger as she gripped her phone. Her sister hadn't watched her while she was drinking, even though she had promised her that she would, and once again, her anger soared.

Her fingers hovered her keyboard, then she replied: _Are you kidding me Sophy?! You PROMISED me that you would watch my drinking! You knew that me and Nick were having trouble, but I would never, and I mean never cheat on Nick! All I wanted was to just calm my nerves for a couple hours and then come back. And now, because of you, I may have lost Nick forever! That "cute" rabbit was still in my house when Nick came back this morning, and he saw him in my bed!You didn't see his face but when I did, my heart broke. He left without me being able to explain, but even I didn't even know what had happened. But now I do. I don't want to hear from you for a very long time Sophy! You have ruined my life._

Send. Her nose twitched in anger, as she just stared at her phone, with a blank stare. It was only 9:37, so the furious rabbit figured that her sister was still awake, probably drunk. Five minutes went by and nothing. Then, the "read" receipt (indicating that her sister had opened the message), popped up and four small dots went across the screen, showing that she was typing. It went for about a minute longer until she replied.

_I'm so sorry Judy! I didn't mean for that to happen! I just figured that you just needed a break. I didn't think that you two would end up sleeping together. Now I feel terrible!_

Judy replied quickly, with fire in her fingers. _Some sister you are_.

She didn't care how bad she was going to hurt her sister with that short reply, but she didn't care. She did far worse to Judy to justify her actions.   
  
Judy wanted to throw her phone at the wall and curse as loud as she could. The "read" receipt came up again, but this time with no reply.

She set her phone down with a loud smack and let out a frustrated sigh. She gritted her teeth and pulled on her ears just so she could get her mind off of her sister.

Her ears slowly came up as a risky idea filled her mind. She slowly reached for her phone, contemplating whether to go through with her plan. Before she knew it, she unlocked her phone, she scrolled down to the second to last person she had texted: Nick.

She began with: _Nick... I'm so sorry for hurting you! That was not supposed to happen! My sister and I went out for a couple drinks last night and she was supposed to watch me but she never did. And when I woke up, I didn't realize that I brought that other rabbit home._

Tears ran down her face with each word. She sniffled. _I would never in a million years ever want to cheat on you Nick. You have to know this. I just want to see you again so I can explain everything. I love you Nick Wilde. You are the best thing to happen to me, even better than me becoming a police officer._

  
***********

She laid in her bed, now in shorts and a blood red shirt of Nick's that was 3 sizes too big for her. She didn't mind though, she wore it whenever she missed that fox of hers. It lingered with his scent as she buried her nose into the soft fabric.

She was restless. The more his scent overcame her, the more she wanted Nick to just come rushing into her room and jumping on her. She'd check her phone every few seconds, to see if Nick had texted her back.

Her gut instinct knew that it was unlikely, but she wanted to believe that he would.

It was well past midnight and her eyes felt as heavy as bricks. She decided that it was time for her to go to sleep. Not only did she want to try and look for Nick again tomorrow, but she also had paperwork that she had not completed at the precinct.

She sat her phone down on her dresser, next to the rose and the picture of her and Nick. She picked it up close to her face, seeing the reflection of her eyes in the plastic.

She sat back down on her bed, holding the picture above her head.

"Tomorrow's another day," she sighed.


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Nick finally comes into the picture. Emotions are in every direction

8 A.M. She left her apartment the moment the sun rose over the distant mountains, with hardly any sleep to motivate her to get up. Nick was her motivation that day.

She took the Sky Trams down to the Rainforest District. She knew that it would be almost impossible to find Nick, due to the heavy tree cover that let in hardly any sunlight, and brush that covered much of the ground floor.

She looked in every crevice, every tree, every crook and cranny, from dawn until dusk, and still, no sign of him.

*********

The next morning, with another sleepless night, she sluggishly got out of bed, put her uniform on and walked to the train station to get escorted to the precinct.

It took 10 minutes for the train to stop at downtown Sahara Square with many stops in-between, picking up many different types of animals along the way.

Once her stop came up, she hustled to a coffee shop where she stopped at every morning to get Nick and herself coffee. Normally, she would stop after the pre-shift meetings with Nick after the meeting with Bogo was finished, but today, she wasn't sure how anything was going to pan out.

She stopped in, got her and Nicks coffee in a tray, and a sweet pastry in a small plastic bag that she hoped Nick would accept, being one of his favorite foods.

She had five minutes until the meeting started, so she jogged through the lobby of the giant precinct with the coffee and bag in hand, giving a polite nod to Clawhauser as the chubby cheetah waved happily to her like he always did every morning with a donut in hand, she opened the back doors of the building with her shoulder, having to jump a little, where her and Nicks squad car was, placed the coffee in the cup holders and carefully tossed the bag into the back seats.

Then with haste, she flipped around and ran back, sliding across the waxed floor to the bullpen. She was breathing pretty heavily from her runs; she calmed herself to breathing in and out slowly before entering, so she could mask her sudden adrenaline.

Her ears almost rang from all the loud talking and commotion she could hear from the animals inside. Same old gossip. Here was the moment of truth. She had no idea how she was going to react when she saw Nick. Cry, hug him on the spot without fear of the others criticizing her, blurt out she's sorry... So many things could happen, so many emotions, and so many scenarios. Either way, she was going to be beyond happy when she sees Nick. Not being able to hold him or seeing him, not even a single text came back, killed her on the inside.   
  
As she walked to the front of the room, where she normally sat with Nick, the other animals looked down on her to stare at her with confusing glances. She was getting nervous.

_Do I have something on my face?_

Then a realization came over her.

_Did... Did Nick tell everyone?_

Her ears planted to her head, immediate sadness overcoming her.

_No, he wouldn't do that. He has a little more control of his pride than that. Even though he is hurting, like he said, 'never let them see that they get to you', he would act like everything is okay._

Like a blur, she was at her desk. She expected to see Nicks feet dangling from the oversized chair they both sat in, but they weren't there. She jumped up to the seat, and when she did, she saw him sitting next to Officer McHorn.

He had a look of dissatisfaction when he saw her, his green eyes turned grey. He looked away, giving her a quick growl in his throat.

He had never growled at her, not like that. This was vicious, and threatening and only she could hear it. With his scowl, his teeth shot out for a quick second, showing her that he did not want to see her.

Fear filled her eyes and she looked away, her bottom lip quivering. She wanted to ball up and cry right there, but she couldn't risk it, not when there were other animals so close to them. She just stared at the desk, taking quick glances at him. Mr. Big was right; he was furious with her, and she knew that coming in, she just didn't know

All she wanted then and there was to leave with him. She needed to talk to him, had to. The air was thick with anger and sadness.

"Ten hut!" the hippo called out.

She shot up in attention, barely peeking over the desk.

As Chief Bogo walked in proudly, the other officers cheered and howled. He looked in her direction, eyes stern, no emotions. He looked over at Nick, and then back at her, a slight confused look on his face. But it went away as soon as it had come.

"Alright, sit down" the buffalo said commandingly. And everyone did as he stood at the podium.

Judy sat down, sitting as close to the desk as she could so she was visible. She couldn't act much different than she normally would because Bogo could sniff out even the slightest difference in his officers.

"I have only one item on the docket," he began as he looked around the room. "There are still a few suspects left to apprehend from the Night Howler case. Our undercover officers have provided us with evidence that shows they are buying equipment to make another lab. This time, much bigger than the previous one."

Everyone in the room whispered to their neighbor, except Judy and Nick. He just stared back at the chief, no expression, no emotions... Nothing. All Judy could think about is what he was thinking. A fox, who has been hurt, but doesn't let it show, can be the most dangerous creature in the room. But, what's even more dangerous, is what he doesn't say or show.

Her ears down, and a look of depression overcame her, she stared at him, looking at his coarse fur and how it looked in that moment: bristled and on edge. The memories of it overcame her. Every time Nick and her were together, whether at his place or her apartment on the small couch, she would always brush through his fur, his tail and rub his ears. That was his favorite. She would always smile when he dropped his head down closer to her, the affection of her touch consuming him. And when he touched her, it was indescribable. Like something you crave, but just can't get enough of.

She loved him, and he loved her. She knew it, but she wasn't sure if he felt the same now.

"Hopps!" Bogo called out. She was brought back to reality and turned her head to face him; he was angry.

"Y-yes sir?" She stood up to salute.

"Quit daydreaming and pay attention!" He yelled out.

"Yes sir!" She replied. _Shit_. She didn't hear anything Bogo said after he was explaining the case.

Bogo growled at her and continued. "Assignments: Rhinowitz, Higgins, Grizzoli, your team take Sahara Square. Look for any of the suspects and report back if you see them. Delgato, Trunkaby, Fangmeyer, undercover in Tundra Town. Snarlof, Worlfard, McHorn, Rainforest District. Wilde, parking duty." All the officers who's names were called stood up and did what they were instructed to do.

Judy's mouth shot open and her ears planted to her head. Ever since Nick came into the ZPD to be her partner, they did everything together, whether it was parking duty, to cases, to doing reports together. Not once have they ever been split up as a team before. And he got out of his chair and started walking out as if all of that meant nothing. She glanced over and watched him walk out, putting his aviators on.

"And Hopps," she turned around to Bogo. "Patrol. Dismissed."

She was still dumbfounded by the scene that had just happened. Bogo knew very well that they were partners. Why would he split them up?

"Chief Bogo!" She called out to the buffalo before he exited the room. "Sir, why did you split me and Nick up? We're partners" she declared.

He turned around to face the small bunny. "Yes I know. But he _insisted_ that he do it. I tried telling him that you two had to help with the case, but he wouldn't have it. What's going on between you two?"

His question made Judy freeze. _Does he know_?

"Uh- I- um..." She stuttered. "Its... a long story" she murmured, not making eye contact with the chief.

The buffalo squinted his eyes, not sure whether to press the issue or not.  
"I gave him three days. You two will be back on the case Thursday."He then nodded his head and walked out of the room without another word.

She stood there on her chair for what seemed like hours. "Nick..." Tears started creeping out the corners of her eyes, wetting the fur on her cheeks. She hadn't wanted to cry for a couple days, but since she was alone, they just ran, and she let them. She felt like she was loosing him, her boyfriend, her love, _her_ fox.

Looking at the time, she sniffed the tears away and wiped her eyes, swallowing to let her throat open back up.

Judy headed out to the lobby where Clawhouser was waiting for her to tell her something. He waved her down and she drew a fake smile across her face, waving back at him.

"Hey there, Hopps" he said happily with a giant grin on his face.

"Hi, Clawhauser. How are you doing?" She smiled slightly.

"Oh, I. Am. Doing. Fantastic! They came out with another Gazelle app where if you sing into your phone, her voice covers over yours! It's so awesome! I've sang like EVERY song on her new album with it!" He said enthusiastically as he fiddled for his phone in his pockets.

When he brought it up, he scrolled through his phone and when he found the app, he shoved the phone close to her face as the music began to play. It was her very popular song, "Try Everything". And as the lyrics came up, so did Clawhausers singing.

His voice was so high pitched that her ears felt like they were ringing. But she didn't want to offend the cheetah and upsetting him so she just dealt with his, very loud singing.

"That- that sounds..." She paused. When she did, Clawhauser's smile withdrew. "Good!" She finally said, lying.

His smile shot back out and his eyes grew. "Awwwweeeeee thank you!!" He yelled out, giving her a giant hug and picking her up.

"No... Problem" she said as the air escaped her when he hugged her. She felt like her eyes were going to pop out of her skull.

The cheetah finally let go. And then drew a confused look. "Hey, where's Nick. I saw him walk out in a meeter maid jacket. Did he get in trouble or something?"

Her eyes went wide in alarm. How could have forgotten? He would always walk Nick and Judy out to there cruiser everyday.

"He uh..." She whimpered and sighed. "It's a long story. It's kind of hard to talk about it right now..." She sighed off.

"Is everything okay Judy?" He asked softly. She turned to him, ears down and with a heartbroken expression. He gasped quietly. "Have you been crying? Your eyes are red" he pointed out.

She guessed right. It was noticeable. "Yes."

"Do you want a hug?"

"It'll have to be later Clawhauser. I have patrol today" she bluntly replied, before dashing to her squad car while waving back at him.

Walking through the isles of police vehicles, containing ZPD SWAT armored vehicles, trucks, SUVs and cars. She was reluctant to have an SUV.

"25, 41, 13..." She numbered off, trying to find her vehicle. "Aha!" She said quietly finding number 36. "Hey, girl" Judy said to the car, tracing her hand across the polished hood. "Looks like it's just you and me..." She breathed.

She jumped up to the seat that was about 4 feet higher than her height, sat down and adjusted her seat. The heart-stricken rabbit looked over to the empty seat next to her, where her best friend, her fox, her boyfriend, her everything, sat.

"This is going to be a long three days," Judy spoke, with a tearful expression. She proceeded behind her and grabbed the bag she left. In it, was a blueberry pie, a favorite treat of Nick's.

All she could do was sigh as she set it in his seat.

Shaking her head, she turned the ignition and let the V8 motor rumble to life. She always enjoyed that sound, especially when she knew it excited her and Nick whenever they rode together, starting another day with each other.

She put the SUV in drive and pulled out of the parking lot, ready and determined to let the days go on until she was next to Nick once more.

 

**********

Judy was right to assume the three days she had to wait were going to be long. As each hour went by, it seemed like 3. And every street looked the same.

The first day, it was difficult for her to accept the fact that Nick wasn't with her. That was a time when Nick and her were able to have privacy and be able to show their emotions with each other, no matter if others were looking. They'd talk about how one day they'd like to move in with each other, and occasionally talk about having a family together, whether it was through adoption or a natural birth.

The second day, she almost got into a wreck with a high speed racer in downtown Tundra Town, day dreaming with hardly any sleep from the night before. But she ended up bringing the high speed chase to a quick stop and found it was car thief that occurred not long before from Clara's Car Shop. It was around 8:30 when she brought the car thief, which was a black bear, to custody.

The third day, nothing happened. No traffic violations, no speeding cars, nothing. She had hoped to see Nick at least once during those three days, placing parking violation tickets on cars. Just seeing him would make her emotions come in check, even if he didn't acknowledge her.

Typical fox behavior. They know when they want they want to be found, and Nick, sure enough didn't want to be.

Going home after a long day on the third night, all she could thing about, was what she was going to say. She replayed imaginary scenes in her head of what she was going to say and how he would respond. Many different situations, all ending up the same, a disaster. But she knew it, she knew tomorrow was going to be a hard day for her, and him. Harder than the rest.

Yelling will cover most of their conversations, if any happened.   
But no matter what, she had to prove to Nick, no matter what, that she still loves him.

Every night she would text him, saying: _I love you, Nick._ Just as simple as that.

She fell asleep, her dreams filling with him in her thoughts. They were happy again, life filled with love. She wanted it to last forever. Then the alarm went off, and just like that, her dream ended.

Reality seemed distant to her while her dream still played through her mind; all the way on the subway to the precinct.

"Love is a hard game," Judy said to herself, walking up the stairs to the front doors. "But, I'm willing to _fight_ until there's no other option" she said, determined.

As she walked into the meeting room, her nerves spiraled as she caught the scent of uneasiness. Was it her own? Or someone else's in the room?

Jumping up to the front desk seat, she saw Nick, fur lightly brushed and ears down. He didn't turn to her, just a quick glance with his eyes.

 _At least he looks calmed down a little_.

It was a start. But anything could happen between now and when Nick and her leave.

Bogo held his promise. After he gave them their assignments, Nick and her left together, without saying a word to each other.

During their small walk to the cruiser, Nick nonchalantly stared away, ignoring Judy's gazes. After a while, she had to look away from him, the pain in her chest swelling.

She had to try and go along with his actions, no matter how hard it was for her. Jumping into the SUV, she saw Nick opening the door, his ears barely cleared the tall leather seats. He too, jumped up to his seat.

He looked down and saw the blueberry pie slice, still in its plastic container, then looked at Judy with this emerald eyes. She smiled faintly.

He then looked back at it, sat down and placed the pie on his lap, placing his elbow on the arm rest and staring out into the window, placing his glasses on the bridge of his nose, covering up his eyes.

Judy sighed, still looking at him as her heart thumped in her chest loudly. Nicks ears twitched to the beat.

She then looked down at the dash, inhaled and turned the ignition. She turned to Nick once more, still staring out the window, an pulled out of the precinct.

"Hey... Nick?" His ears turned to the sound of his name. "Do you- um... Want some coffee?" She hesitated, looking for any expression on his face.

For what seemed like ages, he sat back in his seat, moving to get comfortable. "Sure." He was still looking away.

She smiled a bit, but it vanished quickly. Even though he was in the car with her, which over joyed her, she couldn't help but feel that he wasn't there. Mentally, his mind was lost, somewhere Judy didn't know, behind the walls that he builds and knocks down repeatedly.

***********

She bought the coffee and carried it close to her neck. Salted Caramel with a touch of cream in Judy's cup, and Nick had black with a half a dozen packets worth of sugar.

When she jumped into the car, she noticed Nick was licking his lips. Confused, she looked down and saw the plastic box the pie was in, now empty. A small tender happiness when she smiled at him, her eyes glued on him.

"I see you ate the pie" she finally said.

He turned his head slightly, seeing her smile. "Yeah. Thanks" he said shortly.

She looked away slowly, but giving him another glance. Then she handed his hot cup of coffee to him, complete with the sugar. "You know, with as much sugar as you get with your coffee, your gonna get out of shape."

He gave her an irritated look of disapproval. She bit her lip, and looked away. "I'm sorry... I'm just trying to make small talk" she carried off softly.

"Mm..." He replied, looking away again.

Her happiness hid behind the sadness that crept over her. Her ears bent down in front of her eyes and she closed them, titling her head forward, slightly.

She was brought back to reality when a car horn blared in front of her. The light was green and a driver was blocking all the other cars, causing a line to draw back an eighth of a mile.

When it cleared, she placed the cruiser in drive and drove off down the street. Bogo had reassigned them to continue the Night Howler case. While undercover tried to find where the new hideout for the lab was, they were sent to investigate possible suspects, with warrants in hand.

They investigated 3 mammals, the ones they could find; a wolf, a hippo (a leader of a gang), and a caribou (the victim of walking in on a conversation between to culprits).

"Is there anything about the suspects that you can tell us?" Nick asked the caribou, the beeping of the heart monitor chimed in.

The caribou had been shot with a handgun, .40 caliber, barely missing his right lung. He was stable, but under close watch. "No- not really. It was dark, I couldn't see much of anything."

"Anything they were wearing? What type of animal were they?" Judy chimed in.

"Um... They were kind of chubby looking. They might have been rams or something of that sort. Like I said, it was dark" he breathed slowly.

"Did you hear anything?" Nick asked.

The patient looked back at the fox. "Something about '...this next batch will be stronger than the last'. That's all I heard before they saw me."

Judy and Nick both looked at each other, with worried looks.

After being kicked out by the nurse, they talked about the info they just received.

"A stronger batch? How is that possible?" Judy asked.

"I don't know, but we have to find the lab as soon as possible, before someone gets hurt" Nick replied.

"Well, let's get this info to Bogo."

It was 8:30, half an hour left in there 12 hour shift. The next couple days were going to be long and excruciating.

On their long drive back to the ZPD, they stopped talking about the case all together.

Judy decided to break the ice. "Nick? Can we-"

"Save it, Carrots. I'm not in the mood to talk about it."

That broke her heart. She dreaded on the talk but she just wanted to get what she needed to say off her chest.

"Nick..." She pleaded.

"I said no!" He growled, flaring his nose and staring into Judy's frightened eyes. "You think just because you bought me pie and coffee that I'm going to forgive you that easily?"

"Nick, please" she reached for his paw, but he shifted it away from her reach.

"It's gonna take more than blueberries and coffee, Carrots."

  
*********

In the locker room, Judy undressed from her uniform into her civilian clothes. She was the only one in the room, and she cried, hard.

Her soft cries echoed across the concrete walls. She missed hearing him call her Carrots, but the way he said it, made her heart hurt that much more.

********

She left the locker room, eyes red and watery, and began walking out the front doors. She saw Nick exit the locker rooms, gym bag over his shoulder, walking away with his head and ears down.

She wondered what he was thinking about in that moment, what he was feeling. She knew what she was feeling: alone, scared and afraid.

"Hopps!" Someone called out to her.

Her ears turned, making her turn around in the process. Up in the balcony, she saw Bogo, out of his uniform and in his civilian clothes, wearing tan shorts and a skin tight ZPD shirt.

"Come to my office," the buffalo finally said.

Judy sighed with an uneasy feeling in her stomach. Going to Bogo's office mostly means something bad is about to be spoken about, or an issue regarding a case that could have gone better

"Yes, sir."

He held the door open for her when she arrived. Judy thanked him and sat down the the chair that fit much larger animals.

"Am I in trouble, sir?" She questioned as he shut the door behind him.

He laughed. "No, your not in trouble," he chuckled. But then, his tone grew more serious. "I want to talk to you about you and Nick" he said, folding his hands on the desk.

"Chief, I can expl-" she began before she was cutoff.

"There's no need to explain Hopps, I know."

She squinted her eyes at him. "Know what?"

"About you and Wilde's relationship."

She gasped quietly. "How did you-"

"I've known for a while actually."

"Y-you did?"

He nodded slowly. "Yes."

Embarrassment filled Judy's face as she blushed, making her ears hot. _So much for keeping it a secret from him._

"What happened between you two?" He questioned.

She looked away, not wanting to tell him what happened that morning. "It's... Hard to talk about, Chief" she confessed, a single tear forming.

Bogo sighed heavily. "I know it's none of my business Judy, but I'm saying this, not as your chief, but as your _friend_ , you need to hear this."

Judy looked at Bogo. He never called her by her name, and when he did, a small feeling of felicity filled her eyes.

"You and Wilde have something special, not just because you're couple of the best officers in the ZPD, but because of the bond you two share. In all my years, I've never seen anything like what you and Nick have, even as an interspecies couple. There's many out there who think that your relationship is an affront to nature, but after everything you two have gone through, you don't care what society thinks. You would sacrifice for each other. So whatever it is you and Wilde are going through, I pray that you two get through it. Not just because the ZPD needs you, but also, you two need each other."

Judy smiled at him, more than she had in a long time. She needed that. She needed the encouragement of a friend, to tell her that things were going to be okay, to tell her how special Nick and her were. She knew they were special, she never needed someone more in her life than him.

Nick gave her comfort, love, and protection whenever she felt down or scared. So many nights they spent together, cuddled together, underneath the beauty of the night life of Zootopia.

"Thank you, Chief" she smiled.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Finally got Nick back into the picture. I was pretty emotional writing this chapter all week. But I hope you all enjoy it! Chapter 5 will be up soon. Probably next Saturday. It may seem like Nick is calm in some parts, but he's not. He's hurt and angry not a good combination


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's earlier than i said. Well here it is chapter 5! Only a couple more chapters left

_~~~~That_ confidence that Bogo gave her that night, gave her more courage for the following days.

Every day she would press the issue, little by little, hoping Nick would give her a chance to explain. But every time she brought it up, she was shot down. And she tried, her very hardest, but Nick being as stubborn and as he is, wouldn't give her a chance.

It was Saturday, a week since that dreadful day, and Judy could still remember every moment that unfolded.

It was midday afternoon, and Nick and her were parked on the side of Safari Street, in Sahara Square. And they were expressing themselves... Very loudly.

"Nick please! It's been a week! Why won't you let me explain?!" Judy yelled. Some mammals looked in their direction but she didn't care. She was done with having Nick shutting her out when she wanted to finally explain everything that had happened.

"I don't want to hear it! And if you bring it up again, I'm going to Bogo, and I'm gonna ask him to transfer me to have a different partner!" He replied back with hostility.

Judy's ears set down in sadness, her eyes filled with sorrow. Her mouth quivered, and she could feel her throat closing up. "You-you can't mean that, Nick" she cried.

He looked at her slowly with his emerald eyes. "What do you want me to say, Carrots?" He turned back away, staring out the window. "You hurt me. You cheated on me... With... That bunny" he said, sadness in his voice saying ' _that bunny_ '. His walls were breaking, he was vulnerable.

Judy could see it, could feel it. Whenever they talked like this, that is when he let out what he actually felt. It took Judy longer than she expected, to get him to talk to her like this, but now that she has him, she was going to let everything out at once, even if it meant having Nick process the information.

"I'm sorry..." Judy sighed heavily, and Nicks ears twitched when she did.

"D'you remember that time I told you 'never let them see that they get to you'?"

"Yes, of course" Judy nodded.

"Well, I still mean it. No one ever will" he acknowledged. Judy had to look away. "But," he began. She looked back at him with a grave expression. "You're the only one who gets to me, Carrots. You're the only one I let in to the deepest parts of me, the only one I can talk to about my personal self, the only one... I let see me cry" he confessed, a single tear falling down his left cheek. "But, you're also the last person I would _ever_ expect to cheat."

Judy had no idea that she did that to him. She knew she made him happier than he's ever been, so he's told her. And him telling her that, made her unsure of how to feel in that moment. But he was right, she never in all her life expected to cheat on someone.

They sat there in silence for a couple minutes more, before Judy ended the silence between them.

"Nick?" She looked at him, and he looked at her, staring in each other's eyes. "I know I messed up, I know I hurt you, probably more than I can ever know, but what I did, wasn't all me! I went out with my sister to have a couple drinks, to get my mind off of the fight you and me had,"

He rolled his eyes. "So, you went out to get drunk and then bring home a bunny to forget me? I see," he scoffed, looking away again.

"No! I never want to forget you Nick! My sister was supposed to watch my drinking, but she never did. I don't remember hardly anything from that night. You have to believe me, Nick! I would never, ever want to cheat on you" Judy implored.

"How can I believe you, when you-" he was cut off.

Judy unholstered her phone from its clip o n her hip, unlocking it and swiped to her messages in a matter of seconds. She placed it directly in front of his muzzle. "Read these messages" she demanded.

He scrunched his brow at her. "I'm not gonna-"

"Just read it, you dumb fox!" She yelled back, the phone shaking in her hand in his face, her nose flaring from nervous breathing. She knew she shouldn't have said that, especially since their emotions were flaring in all directions, but it just happened.

He scowled at her again before taking the phone, a low growl in his throat. He stared down at the phone, his eyes slowly moving through the message. His ears were flat against his head, his nose twitching constantly. His breathing was heavy, and long, and his ill temper was high.

Then, his ears rose, and his scent changed. He was reading the message Judy's sister sent her. That's when Judy noticed the drastic change in his eyes; realization.

He sat the phone on his leg, and looked up. "Is it true?"

"Yes."

He stared blankly out into the crowd, no sign of his anger. What replaced it was grief, and sadness, the emotions that hid behind his anger.

Judy looked over to him and leaned closer to him. "Nick, I love you" she softly cried, letting tears run down her cheek. "You have to trust me."

"I want to, but right now, I just don't know how to feel" he finally sniveled, a couple tears falling from his fur, his lips quivering.

Judy sniffled, and reached for his paw again. "I know, but we can get through this, just like we always do. I promise." She laid her paw on his, but this time, he didn't take his back.

They sat there, frozen in time, listening to "From The Ground Up" as it played on the radio.

  
**********

  
Hours into their shift went by without another word. During their talk, they weren't paying much attention to their job, which was finding a the ram that had shot the caribou.

They didn't have a name, but they were paying close attention to hardware stores, plant shops, and chemical shops. Though there weren't many in Sahara Square, they couldn't be in every place all at once. They had to make due with where they were for the time being.

Judy was humming a love song that Nick and her would listen to constantly when they were alone, or just because. She looked over and noticed that Nicks tail was swaying behind the seat, and his ears twitched to the familiar tune, he just wasn't saying anything.

"So," she finally spoke. He glanced over at her, paw on his cheek. "What did you do after... _That_? Because I went looking for you. I went to your apartment, restaurants, all over Zootopia, and I couldn't find you" She asked with a mix of curiosity and remorse.

He raised his eyebrows and his ears, letting out a heavy sigh. "I had a feeling you would" he opened up. Judy could feel the nervousness around him. "After I left, I went to find Finnick..."

  
**_Saturday_ **

With fire in the more than furious fox, he raced down Main Street. Weaving in and out of the larger mammals, Nick hadn't a care in the world if he ran into others or knocking over signs, or even giving the occasional growl.

He felt like he could punch anything and not feel anything, with all the adrenaline running through his veins.

With a hardened scowl on his face and darkened eyes, he walked 6 miles, easily, to the smaller and quieter part of Sahara Central. He found the rust bucket of a vehicle, with its one gray door and a painting that was way out of its date, parked in a ally way.

He knocked three times with his clenched fist, making a clunking sound with each pound.

His ears flicked up from movement inside, hearing tiny footsteps across the bare metal floor. He took a step back.

"Who is it?!" The small white fox asked aloud with a wooden bat in hand, with his deep voice that made it that much funnier.

Nick put a piece sign up. "Hey Finnick," he grumbled.

The tiny fox's eyes went wide and he dropped the bat. "Nick?"

"The one and only" he inquired.

Nick stepped up inside. "Wanna go get some drinks? I'll pay" he said heatedly.

Finnick raised a hand. "Woah. We haven't seen each other in months and you come out of the blue and want to go out for drinks? At least tell me what you've been up to. I heard you and that bunny cop solved that case and were dating. And I also heard you're a cop now, too" the little fox laughed deeply. "Never thought you would go good and all on me" he smiled.

Nicks ears flattened instantly. He glared at the tiny fox, eye twitching, then looked away. "I'm not in the _greatest_ mood to talk about that back-stabbing, cheating wench" he thundered, scrunching his eyebrows.

Finnick looked up at him, with a confused look, his giant ears pointing directly upwards. "What the hell happened?"

Nick crossed his arms. "It's not important," he retorted. Then he shot his head back towards Finnick. "Do you want to go or not? I'll go by myself if you don't want to. Either way, I've got a lot on my mind, and I'm ready to drown my thoughts."

He raised both hands in defense. "No, no I'm going with. It's been a while since we've had a bro's night out" Finnick exclaimed. "Plus, you're gonna need someone to drive your drunken ass home later."  
  
Nick smiled deviously as he ducked and shuffled to the front, torn and worn-out seat.

Finnick crawled to the drivers seat, cranking the old engine over. Nick placed his aviators over his eyes, an upset frown on his lips.

It was only 1:30. None of the bars were open; all except one that Nick knew about when he was in the con business.   
  
The old van back fired loudly, making the vehicle rattle in its old hinges and frame. Nick leaned back in the seat, closing his eyes to take a little nap before he hit the bar, ready to drink the day away.

********

In Danny's Pool & Bar, laughter and loud music filled the dimly lit room.

Nick and Finnick were sitting at the bar, drunk and laughing hysterically. Nick was telling his old friend about what he saw in Judy's apartment.

"Damn, what a _bitch_ " Finnick slurred drunkenly.

"Tell me about it," Nick said, taking another shot of jäger. He sighed heavily as the drink burned his throat. "And to think I was going to-" he cut off.

"What?"

"Nothing" Nick shrugged.

Finnick shook his head, ears flopping against his face. "Nanananana.... Noooooo" he dragged on. "You were gonna say something. So spill it!" He demanded.

He exasperated loudly. "Fine" giving up the fight. He proceeded to look over his shoulders, making sure no one one around to listen. He then leaned over to Finnick and whispered in his ear. He listened carefully.

And then, "WHAT?!" The white fox jumped back in his seat, eyes grown almost dumbfounded by what he just heard. "You-you-you... GAH!" He yelled out. The other mammals and the bartender gave them all concerned looks, then went about their business.

"Ssshhhhh!" Nick silenced.

"Did she have any idea?"

"No, but she won't know now or ever" he said with a disgusted smirk.

"Haha good, she doesn't deserve that, especially after what she did. Rotten rabbit anyways" Finnick agreed.

"Yeah." Nick grabbed the refilled shot glass, and drank the liquid in one gulp. That was his 3rd one.

********

It's was now 9:43, and it was packed. Nick had drank so much, that he was stumbling in his seat.

"Come on Nick, you need to go home. I think you've had more than enough." Dan, the bartender declared.

He laughed with drunken eyes. "Haha, you're a fffffff-unny!" placing a paw on the old pigs' shoulder.

"Nick, you've spent over 200 dollars in drinks today. I've never had any customer spend that much. Something must've happened to you, huh?"

He grew a choleric expression. "Mayyybeeee" blinking away his question.

"Nick, I'm being serious. I don't want to call the cops and give you a bad name. I know you're a cop now, so please, for your sake" the pig pleaded.

Nick glared at him, beaming his eyes at his old friend.

"Fine, but I'll be back tomorrow" the drunk fox barked.

He got up, and fell flat on his face. He made a muffled groan. When he pushed himself up, Finnick was there to help him up. He wasn't _as_ drunk as Nick was, but he was pretty close to falling over his own ears.

"Let's go, Nick."

They walked out of the bar, deciding to go to a motel that was close by, not risking to drive anywhere in their drunken stat.

"Man, what a jerk. I'm n-not goin' there anymore" he said, slurring his words.

"No, he was right. You _definitely_ needed to get out of there. Even I wouldn't drink that much" Finnick disagreed.

"Well you're not me! You're not going what I'm goin-" he kneeled over to the side, and hurled vomit on the street. The alcohol in his stomach burned his throat. He hadn't eaten anything since the morning.

Finnick pat his back, while Nick huffed for air.

"I'm sorry," Nick finally apologized.

"It's fine, man" he said, still patting his friends back. "You know, she's probably looking for you."

That was sudden. Nicks ears shot up to his question. He looked up at him, still breathing deeply. "Oh, more than likely but she won't think of looking for me here. And I plan to keep it that way this weekend." He addressed.

"I hear ya"

After Nick recovered, Finnick walked with him to the motel.

It was a no name motel, and pretty run down. But it would do for Nick for the night.

He handed a 50 dollar bill to the llama tenant.

"Pretty expensive for a dump like this"

The llama looked up from his news paper, fixed on the drunk fox. He glared at him, then looked back at his paper.

Nick shrugged off the look and grabbed the key to room 7. He looked back at Finnick.

"Thanks man"

The small fox flew a hand at him. "Nah, don't give me that. It's nothing."

Nick chuckled. "See ya tomorrow" he waved.

As he marveled at the greasy walls, and _really_ old wallpaper, he found his room at the end of hallway. He placed the key into the lock, and turned the knob.

The bed was no smaller than his own, but much, much older, with new sheets to cover the cracked frame. He sat down, listening to the springs of the bed creek, feeling his aching feet.

His head began to throb, placing his hand on his temple. _I'm gonna feel this tomorrow._

He laid down, before causing his already tired mine anymore torment. He let out a long sigh, reaching into his pocket, holding the object in his hand, a sharp and painful reminder of what he saw earlier that day.

He closed his eyes, allowing the darkness of the room to consume him...

**_Present_ **

"And after that, I just... Walked around Zootopia." He finally finished.

Judy listened intently, her ears down. "You chose some... Bitter word choices. And it sounds like you got really, _really_ drunk." she mumbled.

"Ma'dam, in my defense, I was hurt. Something you know about..." He said with a meaningful expression.

Her eyes darted to the floor. Ashamed, and hurt. "You don't need to keep bringing that up. I know what I did is unforgivable."

"Yes, it is. But I thank you for showing me. It still doesn't make my pain hurt any less"

Her ears poked up slightly. She looked over to him. "Does... That mean-"

"No, I can't forgive you just like that, Carrots. I... Still need time to process all this information."

He was despondent. His ears down. They could both feel each other's own sorrow.

They ended the conversation with glances at each other. They still had a job to do. They couldn't deceive from their task at hand: to find and end the Night Howler case, once and for all. But they could feel it, in their bones, that they were getting closer, to ending it.


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> With heartbreaks, anger sadness, depression all come in its place. And this chapter is full of it

Saturday rolled over and Sunday came along. A sleeping bunny, under the covers of her new comforter, quietly slept.

Judy rarely had the chance to sleep in, in fact, hardly at all. Most nights she got maybe 3-5 hours of sleep. She lay calm, but then shot upright, breathing heavily, eyes alert and focused.

When she awoke, she felt... Weird, of sorts. She could feel that her senses were on edge. Fear? Anxiety? Something she hadn't felt in a long time, since the run in with Gideon.

The sun had just began to peek over the towers to the east, red rays covering the sky. She sat up and rubbed her eyes. She tried shaking the feeling, but it stuck in her mind, with an uncertain emotion coming over her.

Judy wasn't used to the amount of anxiety running through her veins, because, she hardly ever had any. Even during the time her and Nick were separated for three days, she wasn't as anxious as today.

She stood up, and began to pace around the apartment. Trying to think about other topics didn't help, writing what she was feeling, same outcome.

She stopped by her nightstand that had their picture, and stared at the now almost wilted emerald and violet rose, the colors faded. Looking at both, and even re-reading the note, her uneasiness began to creep it's way out of her. She grinned slightly, and placed the note back on the desk.

Advancing her legs to the other side of the room, she opened her small fridge and grabbed a water bottle. She had to go for a run. Slipping on some running shorts and a shirt, she headed out.

Every stride she took, the feeling got worse. The weight of it dragged in her mind. Even with music blaring in her ears, and remnants of the note going through her mind, she was still distracted. The talk with Nick left her depressed and confused. She thought that they were making progress, or at the very least, getting better.

She had ran 12 blocks before she realized where she was: Nicks apartment. It's only been a couple hours, but she missed his presence, more than ever. She wanted to go see him, but decided not to.

As much as it hurt her, she had to give him time. Time to think about last night, time to himself. She just hoped that time didn't take long.

\---

After standing outside of the building of Nicks apartment, and calming her heart rate down, she began walking back to her apartment. She could still feel the tension in her gut, she was getting more anxious by the minute.

"It's probably just stress," Judy whispered to herself. "We both've had a hard week."

 _Hard_ was an understatement. It was emotional, chaotic, stressful, and hectic.

To help more with the Night Howler case, Judy interrogated Belleweather, using her "bad-cop" routine, asking her about anyone else that was working for her. But ever since the former mayor went to prison, she's hardly been helpful, or talkative. She would give Judy a disgusted-smug look, and leave it at that.

She decided to run some more, but to no prevail; her senses were still flustered. Paranoia overcame her as she looked around while she ran, making sure she wasn't being followed. Being a famous cop does have its percs, but it can also place a target on your back, if you're not careful.

From what she saw, no one looked suspicious, and no one was following her.

She shrugged it off, leading her tired legs into a small restaurant, named eZ-Breakfast, to get some well deserved breakfast. She ordered a stack of freshly made pancakes with raspberrys on top and some "country made" whole wheat buttered toast.

Judy hadn't eaten much in that long week, figuring that this would calm her nerves down, even just for a little bit.

With each bite of the fluffy and delectable pancake mixed with the sweet delight of the syrup, her feelings of anxiety started to disappear.

"Look at that, I was just hungry," she chuckled to herself. "Guess I was worried for no reason." Her plate was almost empty, and it had only been 5 minutes since her food had arrived.

Then her phone buzzed in her pocket. She placed the utensils down by her almost empty plate, and grabbed her phone. Pushing the home button, the notification that appeared was a text message... From Nick.

Happiness over came her as her ears perked up. She unlocked her phone, it immediately sent her to his contact.

_Hey, can we talk? At your place?_

Her smile said it all. _Yes_!

_I'll be there in 20_

_Okay! I'll see you then!_

She paid for her meal, tipped her waitress, and hustled out the door.

Judy ran to her apartment, as fast as she could.

She took a quick shower, clearing off the sweat in her fur. She wanted to make at least a decent impression for when Nick came. She was wearing a pair of yoga shorts and a gray shirt.

Nick had texted her at 11:56. It was now 12:20.

The anxious bunny sat on her bed, awaiting for that knob to turn. She stared at it, intently, ears focused forward, as if that would make Nick appear faster.

12:21. Each minute that went by felt like hours, and the more she stared, the longer each minute seemed.

She fiddled with her thumbs, biding her time. 12:23.

"Three more minutes."

She kicked her feet against the bed frame, making a beat. It was pretty catchy, in her opinion.

12:26. The door was still. Unmoving.

She was being too precise. Even though Nick was a cop, he couldn't always be exact, no cop was.

Then the knob turned. Her ears perked up in attention, and her brows raised. And when he walked in, her smile lit up the room. He smiled slightly towards her.

She got up and ran up to him, wrapping her arms around his waste. She rubbed her head on his shirt, covering herself in his scent. Oh how she missed that feeling. He placed an arm around her shoulder.

"Hey, Carrots" Nick addressed. He looked down at her, his muzzle almost touching hers. "Can... We sit down?" There was uneasiness in his voice, caution.

Judy couldn't see what was wrong, he just seemed... Different. That's when she noticed her stomach began to feel uneasy once more.

They walked together and sat down on her bed. He kept his head down during the small walk. He placed his forearms on his thighs and stared at the floor, as he sat down softly on the edge of the bed.

Judy looked over to him, concerned, to what he was feeling. "Are you okay?" She pondered.

"Yeah..." He paused. "Just been thinking"

"About what?" Her head turned slightly, ears limp but still up.

He sighed. "Last night. Our talk..." There was sadness in his tone, almost as if he was choking on his words.

"What about it?" Her uneasy stomach tightened, making her face coarse with emotion.

Nick bit his lip, his breathing shaking with remorse. "I've..." He looked up, and sighed, emotionally, closing his eyes.

"Nick?!" She placed a paw on top of his. "What's wrong?" Scooting closer to him. Her concern for him was unbinding, and she could feel her own breathing starting to get heavy.

He breathed out slowly. "I don't know how to say this... It's killing me just thinking about it," Nick was now fiddling with his fingers.

"Just say it!"

He looked at her, with those emerald eyes that she loved so much, and saw agonizing sadness, a bleak expression. She could see his eyes glistening as tears began to well up. "You know I love you Judy. More than anything. But with everything that has happened in the past week, I think..." He paused. Judy's tension was clawing out of her.

_Don't say it. Please don't say it, you dumb fox._

"... We need to take a break."

Right then, she felt her heart and soul shatter. Like a freight train, pain began to tear away at her emotions. Tears began to flow like waterfalls. That's when she realized: her senses were on edge because it somehow knew what was going to happen.

She had no words, except for, "Why?" She cried, squeezing his paw with all her might.

"It's the only option I can think of. One that's best for both of us." He tried holding back the tears, looking at her broken face, and how much pain it was causing him and his heart.

Judy's cheek fur was already soaked with her tears. "But why?! Why couldn't we talk about this more?! It was just last night when you found out what happened! I know we can get through this! I know I fucked up, terribly, but that's what we are supposed to do, talk things out, no matter how hard it is to discuss!" She bellowed. It wasn't hard to see that she was hurting more than him.

"Carrots," he let a single tear drop to the mattress, looking into her eyes, with a half-serious expression, trying not to show his pain. "You still cheated on me. You slept with another rabbit for Gods sake! But instead of talking about what you were feeling with _me_ , you get drunk instead!"

"But I told you! Sophy was supposed to be watching my drinking! It's not all my fault!"

"Oh, come on Judy!" Nick's switch turned on a dime. His fury came out full swing, lifting his arms into the air and smacking his thighs as he brought them down, causing Judy to flinch. He stood up and faced her. "Stop blaming your sister! She wasn't the one who got drunk and went home with another bunny! You were!" His nostrils were flaring with his steady, but heavy breathing, pointing a claw directly at her, nose scrunched.

All she could do was stare, unable to utter anything. She was frozen on her bed, like a deer in headlights.

He straightened his back and looked at her with fixed eyes, curling his lip, but then turned away, letting his outburst of fury subside. He walked over by the window, looking down at the desk with their picture together, he picked it up and examined it closely.

"I remember that day. So well. You were mad at me for making fun of your shirt. And then, when I kissed you without you knowing, you were so surprised that you didn't know what to do" he laughed sadly. "Who knew we would end up coming to... This." He placed the picture back down, then stared at the wall, waiting for Judy to say something.

Knowing well that she was too hurt to say anything, he continued. "I'm starting with Higgins' group tomorrow. So until things... Turn around, you're going to have to find a new partner." He turned around to walk to the door.

If her ears weren't down before, she knew they were now. Her worst fear had come to pass. She was losing her fox, the one kept her safe, who gave her comfort, who loved her. And now, she was watching him walk out of her life.

"Please... Nick" she fumbled with words. She wanted to get up, to stop him from leaving, but her legs were glued to the floor.

He paused before turning the knob. "I'll see you tomorrow..." He said ever so gently.

He kept his head down as he exited the apartment, his ears twitching to the sound of heartbroken cries.

Inside, Judy was crying the hardest she had ever cried. Harder than the day Nick had found her with that rabbit. He was gone, from her life. And she knew that nothing she could say or do would change that. Nick was the only one who could.

It was now 12:40, but that moment felt much longer.

All Judy could do was stare into her pillow and bawl. And that's all she did, for hours, until her eyes had gotten so puffy that they felt heavy. Not only her pillow case but her pillow was soaked with her tears as well.

By the time she had stopped crying, her neighbors had come back from the store. Even if they were home at the time before Nick left, she wouldn't have cared if they heard her. She was hurting, more than ever.

She got up and paced to the mirror that hung by the door, examining herself. Her eyes were beat red, the fur around them soaked.

She began to scowl towards the mirror, clenching her fist.

Then, with a loud shriek, she punched it, shattering it on her knuckles, now bloody.

She left her fist there, her breathing slow and shaky, letting her sudden rage ease. Her blood dripped from her paw, soaking her fur and the wood floor with the dark red nectar.

To her, the pain felt better on her fist than it did her heart.

"How can he say it's all my fault?! Sophy is at more to blame than me!" She yelled aloud. She wanted to throw anything and everything in her room, but she had to use as much of what was left of her self control not to. She shook her cut hand and placed pressure with her left paw.

"Yeah, she didn't watch my drinking, I should have done that myself. And yeah maybe I should have talked to him about our argument instead of..." She trailed off, as realization found her.

Everyone she's been blaming, the nagging feeling in her mind, was all pointing back on her. She kept denying the truth because she didn't want to believe it, and she was just too blind and hurt to see it.

Judy sat down, clutching her paw, mouth agape. Closing her eyes, she laid her head down within the gap of her legs. "He's right... It is my fault."

There they were. Those words that were hard to mutter. Her pride had fallen, something that was hard for her to let go of. But for Nick, she would do anything.

It was too late though, he was gone, and there was no way to get him back, not this soon. Maybe never.

She had no idea what to do now. For the first time in her life, she was confused, and alone, again.

*******

2 weeks went by, and every day after that, depression is what she felt most of the days. Seeing Nick with different partners, made her even more emotional.

Every time they were in a room together, they would look at each other for a second, and then look away, like they never knew each other. She wasn't the only one who was hurting.

"I wonder if he still thinks about me?" She would ask herself that constantly. Cause he consumed her thoughts every day.

The others knew it, and Chief Bogo knew it; she needed her space, and time to herself. She denied having another partner, for having another one would bring her more painful memories of Nick, and she didn't know if she could deal with any more tears.

With the Night Howler Case still in effect, leads ran cold and suspects were no where to be seen. Officers were still undercover, trying there hardest to get a whisper of where the new lab is located, with little to no success.

Bogo trained every officer in the force with tasers; he wanted them to use non-lethal weapons, if at all possible. They carried their side arms as a secondary, but rarely ever used them. They needed the suspects alive, so they can extract any details about other related crimes going around.

Judy would head down to the target practice area and let the 9mm bullets fly. Every night after her shift was over, she shot her pistol until the gun handle was warm, or she could see through the target.

There wasn't much to do around her apartment besides sulking in her sadness, so she let her frustration out with the copper projectiles. It wasn't anger against Nick, but of her own. She wanted to kill the guilt within her.

She was getting pretty good too. With a fifteen round magazine, she would make an inch diameter patterns.

It was Friday night, and she had plenty of ammo to burn through. Her paw wasn't hurting as bad, but making the wrong move would make it sting. She had gotten eight stitches from when she punched the mirror.

With each brass bullet casing hitting the cement floor, or each empty magazine hitting the stand where the other cartridges were, her trigger finger got faster and faster.

Soon as she knew it, she was firing blindly, nose scrunched and ears pulled back. She was focused on the black silhouette of the target that she didn't realize that she was still shooting.

As she stopped, breathing in heavily, her finger muscles began to cramp, from it being in one position too long. She withdrew the gun, and looked down range.

_I think it's time to head home._

And so she did, for another tearful night.

After putting on her civi clothes, a pair of gym shorts and a green shirt, placing her holstered weapon in her locker.

Judy decided to walk home. It was a peaceful night, one she needed, to try and clear her thoughts. Music also helped with that. She would listen to her Ziphone every night, and that helped, for the most part. When her and Nick's song played, _Heartbeat_ by Prairie Underwood.

They would dance together, anywhere it played. And those memories flooded back to her. Happy memories.

But now, all she could think about were the pointless arguments, and when she hurt Nick.

\-----

When she arrived at her apartment, she just laid down on her bed. The end of the week was finally here, but another night of tears and loneliness would takes its place again.

She scrolled through her pictures, every one with her and Nick. Selfies, pictures without the other one knowing, romantic photos for ideas with each other... And pictures of them kissing.

Sadness filled her eyes. She missed those kisses, the affection it brought her, the feeling she got when their lips touched; happiness likes she's never felt before.

With her tears, tiredness then filled her mind soon after. She left her headphones in, allowing the music to make her tired mind ease to the sound.

\------

She awoke with a loud and obnoxious alarm blaring in her ears. She scrounged for her phone through the blankets, following the cord of her headphones.

Squinting her eyes as she pulled the phone from the depths of her bed with its blinding light, she saw that someone was calling her. She didn't check the number, being too tired to care at that point, having it being 3:40 in the morning.

She answered groggily. "'Ello?"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There you have it. Nick and Judy are broken up. And yes, this was hard as HELL to write because I ship these two HARD! But it was inevitable. Only two more chapters left. What could the call be about? Is it Nick? A relative? Come back to the next chapter to find out


	7. Chapter 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> She could hear car tires screeching and engines roaring to life, on some far away streets, figuring it was her fellow officers on their way to the ZPD
> 
> By the time she got there, every officer from every shift was there. SWAT cars were parked by the steps.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is a fair warning: you are all going to hate me for this.
> 
> One more chapter left

Judy ran down to the precinct as fast as she could, still wearing her pajamas. The subway was a long shot and she didn't have any cash on her to grab a cab. It was a bitter night, and her feet could feel the cold frost on the pavement as she zipped through the empty streets of Savannah Central, all except for the nocturnal mammals.

Bogo had called her, with urgency in his tone.

'Hopps?'

"Chief?"

'Yes this is the Chief. We have an emergency'. There was a hint of concern in his voice.

"What happened? Is it Nick?" She sat up, her stomach immediately tightening.

'No, but he, along with everyone else is on their way to the precinct now. I'll explain the details when you get here."

She could hear car tires screeching and engines roaring to life, on some far away streets, figuring it was her fellow officers on their way to the ZPD.

By the time she got there, every officer from every shift was there. SWAT cars were parked by the steps.

As she entered the lobby of the precinct, everyone was standing in the lobby, in their pajamas as well. They were all talking amongst themselves, their voices mixing and chorusing through the empty walls.

Nick was in the middle of the group, wearing shorts and a black tank top. His fur was sticking up from bed hair; he normally combed it before coming to work.

He was talking to Delgato, one of his new partners. What about, Judy couldn't hear. Nick was so much smaller compared to the rest of the officers, but Judy was smaller still.

She wanted to stand next to him, just to feel more comfortable, but she decided not to, due to the fact that she wasn't sure if he wanted to or not, and she didn't want to interrupt them.

Instead, she found Clawhauser. He was standing at the front of his desk. He was wearing a onesie, that was covered in Gazelle heads, no surprise there at all.

"Hey Ben" she addressed.

The cheetah looked over and down, and smiled his cheerful smile. "Hey Jude! Nice to see ya!"

"Yeah, you too" she covered her mouth, pretending to yawn, but was actually chuckling to herself. "Nice pajamas." It wasn't an insult laugh, just that she wasn't all that surprised that he was wearing something like that.

"Oh, thanks!" He squeaked, looking all over the onesie. "I just got them a few weeks ago. They are SO comfy!" He exclaimed.

Judy smiled and laughed. "I bet," she scanned around the lobby. It was getting fuller and fuller with officers flooding the room. "Do you have any idea what Bogo called us in for?"

"I have no idea," he shrugged. "But, whatever it is, it can't be good. Calls this late and calling in every officer in the ZPD, something must have happened."

"Yeah" she agreed.

"So..." Clawhauser began, twirling his foot in a circular motion on the floor. Judy looked up intently. "Have you and Nick spoken to each other?"

She had a feeling that he would ask her that question, eventually. Her ears drooped over her shoulders, looking down to the floor. Sadly, she lightly scrunched her brow, and glanced over at Nick, who was only ten feet away from her.

But before she could reply, Bogo came out from the bullpen. "Everyone?" He called out. Everybody turned around to face him at attention. "At ease. Get dressed and be back out here in five minutes," he ordered with seriousness in his tone.

He walked back in, and everyone scattered to their locker rooms, with quick hast in their step. There were only a few other females in the force, so she had no problem getting into her locker and getting dressed quickly. But when there were ten males to one female, the men had a much harder time, especially since most of them were huge in size.

By the time she and the other females got out, the males began to pile in with them.

Judy looked for Nick, but with the cluster of animals, she couldn't see between their feet.

The chief was standing in front of Clawhauser's desk, proudly, looking at everyone with a serious look in his eyes as they all came into the lobby.

She walked up as close to the front as she could.

She managed to get to the very front, about 5 feet away from the buffalo. He gave her a quick, swift smile, so only she could see it. She gave one back.

And then to her left, she felt a familiar presence. She looked over and saw Nick, standing right next to her. He had a styrofoam cup of coffee in his paws, sipping the warm drink as he stood their.

She thought that her heart was about to jump out of her chest. He hadn't been this close to her since their... Last time together. He looked so handsome, extraordinary. Every time he wore that uniform, she could hardly remember the fox that he used to be.

She missed it, she missed him. She wanted to reach out and hold his paw, just like they used to. But she couldn't. She didn't want to risk screwing up any other chance.

"Mmhmm," Bogo coughed loudly. Everyone went dead silent, and engrossed in what he was about to announce. "I apologize in advance for calling you all so early, and I know some of you had just gotten home. But, I have just received word about information about the Night Howler case" he began.

"Twenty minutes ago, our under cover officers had infiltrated the lab where the Night Howler serum is being made. But, while they were calling in their location, they were spotted. One of them managed to escape, but they are keeping the other as a hostage." Everyone began mumbling amongst themselves.

He cleared his throat again. "The officer that escaped the scene also reported that they have already began to bring in subjects to test the new serum." Worried gasps filled the room, eyes wide with concern. "We CANNOT let that happen." He was stern with his words.

"Sir?" Officer Fangmeyer called out.

"Yes, Fangmeyer?" Bogo replied.

"Where is the location of the lab? And why haven't these guys left it yet?"

"Good question," he said deeply. "The location of the lab is within an old, abandoned factory in the Broken District. No one has been in that area since the beginning years of Zootopia, so it'll be new territory for all of us. And the answer to your next question is this: ZPD SWAT is at the scene now, covering the perimeter. The suspects are armed, so be prepared for a fight. And there are many of them. I want you all to use your tasers or your tranquilizers, but if the need arises, which it may, use your hand guns."

Judy took in all the information Bogo was throwing at them, writing down mental notes.

"I'm going to split you all into teams" he said. Another officer, brought out a table and an old school projector. Bogo placed a blueprint map of the factory down on the table, and shined the image on the desk.

"Assignments: Officers Grizzoli, Delgato, you two go with the infiltration team along with a couple SWAT team members," he was pointing at the map of where the officers were going to be. "Officers Snarlof, Trunkaby..."

Judy drifted off as Bogo named off the officers and where they were going. She looked over at Nick, looking at his facial expressions. He was serious, ready for anything, like it was just another day at the office.

She could sense that he wasn't afraid. Not. One. Bit of fear was showing. She wasn't sure whether to feel comfort, or hesitant.

"... Officers Wilde, Hopps:" he called. Judy snapped back. "You two take point in the back of the building. There is only one exit, so if anyone gets out, you two can stop them."

"Yes sir" they both said, simultaneously.

"Alright," he shook his head, looking around at everyone. "Everyone to your vehicles. Let's go!"

They all saluted, and began to disperse. Judy turned and hustled to the back of the precinct, with Nick right beside her.

She had a sense of deja vú. It was just like before, him and her, walking together to fight crime, help the city, and at that time, together as a couple. Now, they were saving the lives of many other mammals, together, just, not in the way she wanted.

They both reached number 36, jumped in, and Judy started it, roaring the engine to life. Nick turned the siren and lights on, and Judy pulled out of the parking lot, as did dozens of others, and headed to the abandoned factory.

Their sirens blared through the empty streets of Savannah Central, and their formation looked much like a posse, heading to something that many of them had no idea what they were getting into. All except Judy and Nick. They knew first hand what they were getting into, and the dangers that could await them.

Their GPS took them past the Rainforest District, about 10 miles. Through the tunnels into Tundra Town, and past the old asylum, they drove, as fast as they could. This was going to be the biggest case they would solve in ZPD history.

When they were about a mile away from the scene, they could see helicopters and SWAT police car lights flashing in the sky.

Judy was determined and focused, more than she had been in weeks. They were finally going to end it, a deadly plague that could rip apart everything that Zootopia had created. She glanced at Nick, sitting tall in his seat. He was prepared too, or so she hoped. He was playing with his thumbs, twirling them around each other as they drove down to the factory.

"You ready?" She questioned.

He looked back at her, with a cheeky grin. "Always."

She smiled slightly. She hadn't heard his voice in so long. It felt... Heavenly.

They pulled up to the old factory, rusted with broken walls and shattered windows, lights shining at every door and escape route they could find.

"This is the ZPD, come out with your paws and claws up, I repeat, please come out with you paws and claws up!" The helicopter megaphone spoke out.

Judy hopped out of the cruiser, as did Nick, and looked around and saw many mammals in SWAT gear, wearing Kevlar body armor, and full bodied protection. Officers began to join the ranks of their other fellow officers, going to their assigned positions. Black, armored trucks filled the front side perimeter.

Judy headed towards the chief to make sure that there weren't any other instructions for her to and Nick to do.

Bogo had nothing, other than what they were already told, so they proceeded to the south end of the 200,000 square foot building. They kept their heads down, and stealthily moved across the yard. Judy loaded her tranquilizer and her pistol (just in case), and Nick did the same. He also carried a taser gun as well as his handgun.

There were allies behind the factory, due to the rotting old apartment complexes right next door. Judy hid closest to the factory, behind an old dumpster, and Nick hid behind a wall across from her. Two other officers were on the other side of the ally, doing the same.

Then, Chief Bogo's voice came over the radio.

_Is everyone in position?_

_Copy_

_Roger!_

_Ten-four_

_Alright everyone, get ready. I'll be with the breaching team_. Bogo was so calm and collective.

Judy was prepared, for anything.

Then the sound of a shotgun came echoing into the empty district air, as metal chains and locks fell to the ground. And then the sound of a breaching ram hit the metal doors, sending them flying open.

"Freeze! ZPD!"

"Drop your weapons!"

Then gun fire rang.

_Shots fired! Shots fired!_

_Take 'em out!_

Yelps were heard from outside as tasers began hitting suspects. Less and less gun fire.

 _Suspects in custody!_ An officer called out, as all the gun fire stopped. It took about 5 minutes for the ZPD to apprehend all the suspects in the building.

Judy heard fast moving footstep echoing through the factory.

 _We found them!_ Judy heard Bogo call through. _We found the mammals! None have been tagged with the serum._

Then, _ten-one-oh-six! Send an ambulance! We found Officer Feltag! He is hurt!_

_Ten-four, copy. An ambulance is on its way._

Judy let out a sigh of relief. Nothing bad had happened. They were all safe. The undercover officer was found, the plot to spread the Night Howler serum was stopped just in time, and...

_Look! Two suspects in the back of the building, by the south wall! Heading to the rear door!_

That was her cue. She prepared herself, ever so slightly looking around the corner of the dumpster. Nick followed suit, stealthily.

She noticed that he was almost invisible to the naked eye, covered in darkness, besides from the helicopters spot light shining on the door. He was well covered, but she had great vision for a rabbit.

The doors flung open. She turned the corner and out ran a brown timber wolf in a black trench coat.

"Freeze!" She demanded, her tranquilizer at the ready.

Nick turned along with her. "Hands up!"

He turned around and sneered, pulling a gun out of one of the pockets of his coat.

Her eyes went wide and she ran to the side, next to the building. He began firing towards her and Nick. Bullets ricocheted from the walls and the concrete floor. Nicks belt, along with his tazer and pistol, caught on a piece of old rebar, ripping it off of his waste. It now lay in the way of the shooters aim.

After he stopped to reload, she turned back around, and shot the tranquilizer, hitting the wolf directly in the chest.

She grabbed the radio on her shoulder. "Suspect down! Preparing to apprehen-" she was cut off as a ram darted out soon after the wolf fell to the ground, now unconscious. He was carrying a briefcase in his left arm, and in the other, a handgun.

He turned around, and looked at Judy. It was undeniable, it was him. She recognized that face anywhere. The chubby figure, the eyepatch, the dark colored shirt, there was no doubt about it.

He turned around and started shooting, blindly behind him. The bullets flew every which way, shattering bricks, and ricocheting off of steel. He shot at the other officers, placing bullets in there window and vehicle. Judy tumbled back to her original hiding spot, waiting until the shooting stopped.

She peeked around, and heard his hooves clapping against the cement, echoing down the alley. She looked over to the other cops, and saw blood sprayed on one of the shattered car windows.

The other cop, a tiger, rushed around the other side. She saw the feet of the other officer, a jaguar, lying on the side of the door. "Officer down! Sheila's been shot in shoulder! Need medical attention ASAP!" The tiger called into his walki.

Judy, tranquilizer at the ready and reloaded, headed towards the downed wolf. She turned him around, struggling as he was much heavier than she realized, and zipped the cuffs around his wrist.

She stood up to head to assist with the downed officer, until Nick zoomed past her with haste. He was trailing down to the ally, after the ram.

"Nick! Wait! We have to-"

"There's no time! I'm going after him" he yelled back, disappearing into the darkness.

"Ugh, dumb fox" she groaned. She started to walk towards the other officers, but the tiger lifted a paw to her.

"I've got this!" He insisted. "Go after him!"

She nodded her head. She turned to the alley and ran in, the darkness consuming her now. All she had to do now, was find Nick, in the maze of alleys and dark passage ways, with no light to guide her. Her sensitive nose was now the only method to finding Nick.

\-----

Nick followed the scent of the ram, his night vision working perfectly in the dark alley way. His heart rate was like fire, and his lungs were freezing, with the drastic drop in temperature.

Ahead of him, about fifty or so yards, trash cans fell and grunts were expressed. He was gaining ground.

With his taser out in front, ready for any kind of moment that if the ram were to turn around, he would stop him in his tracks. He cut corners, barely missing the walls.

He saw the ram, now 20 yards in front of him.

 _How is he still going? He's so... Chubby_.

The ram turned to the right, and a few seconds later, with his hearing at one-hundred percent, he heard the sound of chain link fence.

He smiled. "Gotcha" he mumbled to himself.

As he turned the corner, he saw the ram, attempting to climb the fence.

Nick raised his taser. "Stop!" And the ram did. "Turn around, _slowly_ " Nick commanded, watching the ram and his hands.

Once the ram was completely turned and facing towards him, Nick scowled slightly. "Why, if it isn't my old pal, Jesse."

"Who are... Oh!" The ram finally realized. "I remember you. You're that damn fox from the subway." The moon, shining blissfully through the light cloud cover, he could see Nicks' face and his stature. The ram let out a puff of hot hair from his nose, obviously still outraged from what him and Judy did: finding the makeshift lab and almost running him over with the train car.

Nick chuckled silently.

"So, where's your bunny friend?" He asked demonically.

"She's with other officers at the moment. Helping an officer _you_ shot," Nick was calm, but angry at Jesse for injuring a fellow officer. "And I'm guessing you're the one who shot that caribou who is now in the hospital. And I'm guessing... That's the gun you used to shoot him."

Jesse just laughed, in a mocking tone. "You're very observant, officer" he jested. "It's impressive. But now, I'm afraid our little meeting is over."

"Not until you give me answers," Nick scolded. Jesse stood quietly. "I want to know what's in that case, and I want to know now!"

The ram kept that devious smile. "The chemical formula to the serum. But... Not the one you're familiar with" he prompted.

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"It's pretty simple, but only to the..." He paused, glancing at Nick up and down. "Smart."

"You're stalling"

"Perhaps, maybe I'm just waiting."

"Waiting? For what?"

"You're partner... So when she gets here, she can watch you die. And by the time she gets here, I'll be long gone, and you..." He shrugged. "Well, you'll be nothing but a memory of this long and bright future ahead of us." He was threatening, and he meant every word.

"Not tonight, nor will you hurt any mammal again! Now hand over the case." His grip on his taser was tight, prepared. He was watching Jesse's left hand, especially after he just threatened to kill him.

"I'm afraid, I can't do that." His hand that was carrying the gun began to lift up.

_Don't you do it. Don't you do it._

"Put the gun down! Now! Or I will shoot!" He yelled out.

Higher and higher. By his thigh, now his hip... Nick had no choice. He pulled the trigger, hearing the small explosion of the small, electrical wires spanning out.

Once they hit, he heard the voltage turn on, zapping the ram with fifty-thousand volts.

He knelt down onto his knees, being zapped from the gun.

After a few seconds went by, the voltage ceased, leaving the ram on his knees.

Nick started walking towards him, ready to approach him. But then, something very unexpected happened. He was laughing, hysterically.

Nick was confused. "You should be unconscious after that!"

Jesse laughed a little louder, looking up at Nick, with those cross pupils and dull eyes. "Kevlar, and rubber padding," he explained. Then his gun rose right up to Nicks chest, or where Nick thought it was pointing.

He reached for his... But it wasn't there. His mouth drew open, and his eyes were filled with dread.

"Missing something officer?" Jesse smiled.

"Shit..." Nick mumbled, his voice shaking in fear.

He knew what was coming next, the ending blow. Even with his own Kevlar, the shot would pierce right through it.

He closed his eyes, preparing himself for the inevitable.

 _How will it feel? To die?_ He wondered. _How much pain will I feel?_ He had nothing to defend himself. All he could do was wait, for the sound of the gun.

And then... Gun fire.

Nick flinched, squeezing his eye lids tightly. But he didn't feel anything. Not the burning from the bullet... Nothing.

But he could smell blood. A lot of it. But it wasn't his.

He opened his eyes and saw Jesse. He had his back turned with his head down, ready to ram into the chain linked fence. And when he did, he disappeared into the night.

He followed the scent of blood. It was strong, and it was right in front of him.

Nick looked down, and saw his greatest fear: Judy, lying on the ground in a small pool of her own blood. She was shaking, in a fetal position.

His eyes grew wide, and his face grew cold. He knelt down so fast that he skidded across the cement. "No no no no no!" He cried.

He grabbed her carefully and turned her onto her back. She was panting and groaning, and in serious pain. He too, was shaking. He had never felt this way before. He was scared, and he began to panic.

He felt around her torso, and immediately felt the wetness of blood. He found the bullet hole, in her abdomen area, and applied pressure to it. She had jumped in front of Jesse's bullet, to save him.

Judy made a small, but painful squeal. She tugged at his sleeve, tightly, almost ripping it. But while doing it, she was staring at him, in the eyes.

"Hold on Judy! Just hold on!" Nick begged. She ended up pulling herself into his lap, closing the distance between them. "Officer Wilde to dispatch! 10-106! We need immediate medical attention ASAP! Officer Hopps has been shot! She is down and in critical condition! Bullet wound to the abdomen area!"

Judy could barely hear, but she heard bits from the response. "Oka- help is on the- jus- 'old on!" Her vision was fading, Nick turned into a orange blur.

He leaned in closer to her, almost nose to nose. "Ya hear that Judy?Help is coming!" He applied more pressure on her wound. Her blood was soaked into her uniform and into his now, darkened orange fur.

The feeling of it sickened him. The scent of her blood made him want to vomit. Normally, he wouldn't mind, but seeing her like this, it hurt him, breaking him to the core.

Her breathing was shallow now. Her eyes were almost shut. "Nick..." Was all she could muster.

"I'm here Carrots, I'm here" he said, placing a paw on her cheek, trying to give her comfort.

Her breathing was short, and she began to loose consciousness.

Nick noticed it. "Carrots! Stay with me, _stay_ with me!" He urged. He was begging, as he began to cry.

She couldn't fight it anymore. Her eyes were heavy, and she could hardly hear him. Her head began to sag in his paw.

"Judy... Judy!" Nick cried out.

His voice was faint to Judy, almost like a whisper. Before she closed her eyes completely, she heard him one last time. "Judy!!!"

Then... Darkness. A darkness so pitch black, that nothing could seep through.


	8. Chapter 8

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Last chapter but I think I've left it at a good ending.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And here you have it. The final chapter. Thank you all who have read it! I appreciate it so much that you've all read this. It brings me so much joy seeing all the different reactions to this story. And I apologize for this being late. Work and other things in my life made it more and more difficult for me to finish the chapter. But I wanted to make this last chapter very memorable. So again, thank you all! And enjoy!

Dark rain clouds reined over the sky, gloomy and depressed. And below it, a funeral was being held.

A large crowd of people, including all ZPD officers, family members, and even citizens of Zootopia, came to pay their respects. In the middle, six mammals carried a casket, slowly, step by step towards the rabbit priest, who stood vigil in front of the hole in the ground, a bible in paw. The tombstone behind him read the name: _Judy L. Hopps_.

Nick Wilde, was one of the mammals that carried the closed casket, small in length and not very heavy.

The rain soaked into his uniform, lightly decorated in his few achievements since he's been on the force. It dripped from his hat, drop by drop, hitting the soil beneath his feet. It covered his eyes, as he stared at the ground.

There was no emotion on his face, not sadness, not grief, no depression... Just blank. If he was crying, there was no way that anybody would have known. The rain mixed with his fur on his face, soaking it, and turning it dark, almost black.

Many of the members of the Hopps' family had come to say goodbye to their sister, and daughter. Mr. And Mrs. Hopps were wearing all black, a black veil covering the mothers face. She too, was staring at the ground, her ears limp on her shoulders. Stu Hopps was crying, as a grieving father normally would. Loosing a daughter is the hardest thing for a father to endure.

Nick couldn't help but listen in, to all of the brothers and sisters, older and younger, as they weeped for their sister.

Their shrills sent lightning down his back, as more guilt built on his shoulders, not counting the weight of the casket.

All six mammals stopped as they reached the burial vault. They turned to face the opposite mammal from them, but not making any eye contact with the other. They began to lower the casket onto the vault, being careful not to undo the Zootopian flag that lay smoothly upon the wooden surface of the coffin.

Once it was lowered, they simultaneously turned to either their left or right, and proceeded to follow one another in a single file line, following the commands of Chief Bogo as he echoed "Left, left, left-right-left." But before they turned around, Nick looked at the photo of Judy, reminiscing those beautiful, violet eyes that she wore.

They followed suit until they reached all of the other officers and stood there, like statues: unmoving and stern in their expressions.

Nick slowly watched as the flag folder, a moose, who was highly decorated with many different medals, a captain, began folding the flag, in preparation to giving it to one of the parents.

It was like he had done this a million times. His eyes were almost completely shut, slowly but efficiently folding the cotton smooth flag, corner to corner, left to right.

Once it was pristine, no wrinkles, no pieces of the flag sticking out, perfect, he turned around, clicked his heels and directed himself to where the grieving family sat.

Nick watched him, his blank stare glued to the mosses every step. He knelt down in front of Bonnie Hopps, and presented the flag in her daughters name.

"Mrs. Hopps, on behalf of the ZPD, and all of Zootopia, we present you this flag, in representation for your daughters courage, leadership, and bravery," he bestowed the flag, gingerly handing it to Bonnie. She held it, and softly placed the flag on her lap. The moose stood up. "And on behalf of the Mayor, we present Officer Judy Hopps the Medal of Valor and the Purple Shield" he announced.

Two other officers, a black bear and a zebra, stepped out of line, four officers away from where Nick stood, and began to walk towards the captain, side by side, holding white boxes in their left paw and hoof. Once they reached the captain, they saluted together, stood there, and waited for the captain to salute them back.

He did and they handed the medals to the captain. He took them and presented them to Stu this time.

The tears flown out, more than what Bonnie was showing. Nick could see it in his eyes. He didn't want those medals to remember his daughter. He could read him like a book; he was saying in his thoughts "I don't want your medals! I just want my daughter back!"

Nick knew how he felt. He did too, more than anything.

The preacher then began his ceremony, giving as much comfort from their holy book to the crowd of mammals. He read passages, saying, "she is now in the grace of God. In His comfort, in his heaven."

Nick never was the religious type, but today, he was praying for the first time in his life to whatever God that could hear his prayer.

_Why? Why her? It should've been me. It was supposed to be me._

He blamed himself. They shouldn't be here, none of them should. He should be the one in that casket, not her. Never her. She had so much to live for, so much...

Stu and Bonnie were the next to speak.

They talked about their favorite memories of her: When she was a child and always talking about famous officers and wanting to be just like them, how hard she had worked for years to fulfill her dream of becoming an officer, and how much a certain fox had changed her life.

And Nick knew they were talking about him. They both looked at him, not with anger, but with love, thanking him for all he did for her.

He had to smile, to show that he appreciated them, for everything they've done; for accepting them when Judy told them both that they were together and supporting them through everything.

A couple more words from more family members, and some inspiring words from Bogo about how Judy always succeeded even when the odds were against her. Then the twenty-one gun salute was performed.

With his hand firmly against his brow, he heard the gun shots ring from the firing party. Even with his sensitive ears, the shots didn't faze him. The rain muffled the shots, but he hardly heard them anyways. His mind was elsewhere.

All he could think about was the shot from that night, the one that took her life. The one person he truly cared about in all of Zootopia.

After the rest of the ceremony began to wrap up, bagpipers playing the Zootopian National Anthem, the Final Call Ceremony, all of which flew by for Nick. Before he knew it, the dismissal instructions were called.

Bogo had allowed Nick to stay behind, to mourn his partners death.

He stood there next to her picture, in the rain, and all alone. He stared at the picture of her, reading the definition of her face one last time.

"Why Judy? Why did you jump in front of me?" He asked. He walked up to the coffin, placing his paw on lid. He then hit his knees, beginning to let his tears fall down his face. "It should've been me Carrots! It should've... Been... Me!!" He cried out. Thunder cracked across the sky, as if someone or something just answered him back.

He let out short bursts of breaths as he cried, looking down at the ground as the rain dripped off of him.

Then, his ears shot up behind him. He heard the racking of a gun, directly behind him.

"I knew I'd find you here" A familiar voice laughed.

Nick turned his head slightly, and saw Jesse, standing five feet away from him, a gun pointed at the back of his head.

"Took you long enough," Nick replied.

"Nice funeral," he mocked. "Care to join your bunny friend?"

"She wasn't just a _friend_ ," he growled.

Jesse smiled. "Then killing you will make this even better."

Nick didn't flinch. He didn't even try to fight back. Nor did he want to. He just turned his head back around, and stared at the picture of Judy... And smiled.

Then he felt the muzzle of the pistol against his fur.

_Crack_

 

*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*

_Beep, beep, beep, beep._

The steady beeping of the heart monitor poked at Judy's ear drums. Her unconscious mind has awoken from its slumber. She tried opening her eyes, but they felt too heavy to even attempt. It felt like she had been sleeping for days, weeks even. The last things she could remember was Nick... and his pleading for her to stay awake. She also remembered Nick at her funeral.

_Was... Was that all... Just a dream?_

She tried sitting up, all the while her stomach burned and twisted in agony. She winced in pain. She held in deep breaths in order to make the sharpened anguish lessen.

Her eye lids eventually ceased their grip on her, as the bright lights of the room almost blinded her. Her sight was blurry, as everything looked like a huge blob. But soon enough, she could start to make out objects in the room: the pale grayish-white table by the wall, the heart monitor to her right and also an outside view from where she lay.

She guessed that she was in a hospital. She wasn't sure which one, but she was thankful. She couldn't tell if it was morning or afternoon. Time seemed distant from her.

"I see you've woken up," an unfamiliar voice called out.

Judy looked around and saw a white female tiger nurse, standing in the door way.

"How are you feeling?" She asked as she advanced towards her, writing down notes on a clipboard she was carrying.

"Um... I'm not sure," Judy began. "To be honest, I'm still a little dazed" she confessed, a tint of embarrassment in her tone.

"That's normal. After the gun shot wound you suffered from, and the amount of blood you lost, it's common for you to feel that way. We had to find the right donor for you since, as you know, you have a rare blood type." The nurse explained it like she's been through it, or has helped many patients like Judy.

"Wait... I was shot?!"

"Yes, in your abdominal area. The bullet hit one of your intestines and we had to perform surgery. That was four days ago," the tiger explained.

She then felt the elastic bandages around her stomach, and placed a hand on her wound, slightly touching it. "Why can't I remember any of it?" Judy asked.

"Well, you've been on some heavy drugs and antibiotics since your surgery. And you went also were in shock for quite a while."

 _That explains a lot_. It was a blunt explanation, but an explanation none the less.

"Are my parents here?"

The nurse nodded. "Yes, they've just arrived."

A look of confusion drew across her face. "Wait," she said. The nurse looked up at her. "How did I get a blood transfusion then?"

As the nurse was about to speak, a familiar, cheerful squeal filled the dull walls. Judy looked over to the doorway, and saw Clawhauser, his face filled with joy to seeing Judy.

He dashed in, quicker than Judy could ever think possible, directly to her, arms stretched. But before he reached her, the nurse stuck out her arm to haunt the advancing cheetah.

The tiger shook her head. "She's just woken up. She needs more time to rest."

Ben frowned sadly. "Can I give her a light hug?" He gestured, using his fingers that were slightly apart.

The tiger smiled. "Yes, but not too hard."

He smiled widely and walked towards Judy, wrapping himself around her small and fragile body. "I'm so happy your okay Jude!" He said with tears in his eyes.

She wrapped one arm around him, the one arm that didn't have wires coming out of them. "It's okay Clawhauser, I'm fine now" she insisted. _For the most part._

She couldn't lift too high, fearful for her tender wound.

"It's good to see you awake, finally" another familiar voice called out. It was deep and stern. She looked around Clawhauser as he stood up from his embrace. It was Bogo, wearing a black shirt with khaki shorts.

He had one of the largest grins Judy had ever seen him have.

She couldn't help but smile back. "Hey Chief, how did the rest of the raid go?"

"Well, besides you getting shot, it went well otherwise" he said, crossing his arms as he stood next to her bed. "Officer Feltag had a couple cuts and bruises from them beating him. But he'll pull through in no time."

Judy let out a sigh of relief. "That's good to hear," she smiled. Then immediately after, her smile turned and her ears shot up in attention as she shot her head towards Bogo. "Is Nick alright?! Where is he?! Did he get hurt-"

She was cut off as Bogo placed a hoof on her shoulder lightly. "He's fine Hopps. He's around here somewhere. I'm sure he'll be along any time now. But in the mean time," he paused to look back towards the door.

She peeked around him, and saw her parents. They held each other close, seeing their daughter for the first time since her unfortunate accident.

Her dad let out heaves of air as his tears came out. Her mother sniffled as well. Judy couldn't help but chuckle at her father; he was so emotional towards her.

They both dashed in and found their way in between Bogo and Clauwhouser.

And as Judy guessed, her father was the first to embrace her. The nurse let out a light clearing of her throat, indicating to Stu to be careful.

He looked to Judy, and then to the nurse, with an apologetic look on his face.

He looked back at Judy with anguish in his eyes. "How we doing, Jude?"

"A little bit better," she insisted with a slight smile to her father.

Right after she replied, more mammals began pouring into her room. Most of them were her close friends from the force, a couple of others were from her family; brothers, sisters, cousins... Jake? Louis? So many faces she hadn't seen in so long.

The nurse tried speaking through the chorus of voices, issuing that not all of them should be in there, but none were listening to her authority. So all she could do was stand back.

Everyone asked her all at once how she was doing, all in a big clamor of voices. The room was packed with mammals, and she couldn't even hear herself think.

"I appreciate for everyone coming to see me Chief! But I think it's getting a little too packed in here!" She yelled out.

"I know, but they've all been anxious to see you ever since you got he-"

The room fell silent. It was eerie, as sudden as it was. Everyone turned to the entrance, and Judy followed suit. They made a small path way, allowing Judy to see clearly towards the doorway.

And when she saw who was standing at the door, her expression matched his.

It was Nick. His eyes were wide and his mouth agape. The coffee cup in his paws was shaking, almost as if he were about to drop it. He was now wearing his Hawaiian shirt and tie.

Bogo looked at Judy, then to Nick, and then back at her. He nodded to her. "It looks like you two need some time alone," he looked around to the other officers, and to her parents. "Let's go everyone" he called out. The rest of the animals looked at each other, but didn't say another word. They filed out a couple at a time.

Her parents stood there, but Judy gave them a nod, telling them that it was okay. She told them what had happened between Nick and her a couple weeks ago, so she didn't expect them to be as reluctant to leave her.

As the last mammal walked out, including the nurse, Nick was now standing in front of the door way. He had set the cup of coffee down on the doctors desk closest to the door.

She couldn't read his emotions, even as he stared at her with those emerald eyes of his. His tail and ears lay flat, as his breathing became more and more heavier, lifting his chest.

"Nick," she began.

Then, with a flick of a finger, he scowled at her and scrunched his eyes. He paced towards her, his paws clenched in a fist. His arms swung as he walked closer to her; his face darkened as he did.

Judy had never seen Nick like this. Not even when he was more than furious with her. She was actually terrified of him, in that moment.

"Nick, wait!" She pleaded, bringing her arms up in front of her, even with the sharp pain in her stomach that coursed more adrenaline into her veins.

But he kept coming. So all she could was brace for what was about to happen next, closing her eyes.

Suddenly, she felt a warm embrace surround her, tightly.

She opened her eyes, and looked over to her left. Nick had his face buried in her ears, crying his soul out. She could feel the hot tears soaking into her thin hospital attire. With each gasp of air he took, the harder he held her, and the more he cried.

He caught her so off guard, that she didn't know what she was feeling. Confusing mostly, since the abrupt change from his emotions, before... This.

Instinctively, she wrapped her arms around him, even with her wound being tender. She too, buried herself into his shoulder, and in response, he pulled her into him.

"J-Judy..." He whimpered, sniffling with tears streaming down his face.

"It's okay Nick, I'm here. I'm fine now."

"I- I thought I lost you! All the blood... You... You grabbed for me. And your- your eyes! I could see the pain in your eyes, Carrots. I could feel it" he wept. His voice was soft, and scared, yet, they were strong.

"I'm so sorry, Carrots. It's my fault you're here" he exclaimed.

She began to tear up along with him. "Nick, look at me" she said as she let him go. He withdrew his embrace and was now face to face with her. "I'm fine. Okay? I promise you."

She was so sincere. More than she had been in so long. It was like a lost emotion found its way back up from the depths of darkness. And she saw it in Nicks' eyes too. He meant every word he was saying.

He dropped his muzzle down to her chest, so he was eye level with her. He looked up at her, now with a whole new, different look in his eyes. She couldn't pin point it, still feeling the side effects from the drugs.

Then, before she could even react, he leaned into her, and locked his lips with hers. He placed a paw on her cheek, folding down her ear. It was so quick, and yet, so loving. Her ear jolted up off her shoulders, and her eyes grew. But she soon closed her eyes, her mind filling with warmth and passion. She reached with a paw and placed it on his cheek also, pushing into him with all her might.

They held each other there for what seemed like an eternity, just like it had been for both of them before.

After that eternity, their lips parted, leaving behind the essence of each other on their lips.

He looked into her eyes again, and grabbed her paw with his free one, clenching it tightly. "I'm sorry Carrots..." He whispered to her.

"Nick," she whispered back.

"For everything" he said right before she finished.

"It's okay Nick... I'm here now." She placed her forehead on the tip of muzzle. She stroked her hand through his fur, listening to the sound of his heartbeat.

He leaned in to her, placing his head over her shoulder, his ears twitching to the sound of her heartbeat. They were both thinking the same thing; they both missed this feeling.

They stayed in each other's embrace for hours. No one had even tried entering the room. And soon, they fell asleep together. Nick's head laid in her lap, and Judy put her head on his, their paws interlocking.

*******

Judy woke up hours later, someone lightly shaking her awake. She blinked multiple times. She looked up from her pillow, Nicks cheek, and saw her nurse with her hand on her shoulder.

"I'm sorry to wake you, Ms. Hopps," she apologized.

"No, it's okay." She looked down at Nick on her lap. He was face deep within the thin blanket that covered her legs. She smiled softly, her eyes were blissful. His ears lay flat. He was breathing in so softly. She thought she would never hear that again.

She brushed her paw through his fur. "Is everything okay?" The nurse was checking the monitors and her vitals, writing down quick notes.

"Yes. You have another visitor."The nurse turned and looked towards the entrance.

From the corner, a foot appeared. Then the silhouette of a rabbit came into view.

"Hey little sis," the familiar, cheeky voice called out.

As her instincts kicked in, she just wanted to scream at the top of her lungs. She didn't expect to see her of all mammals, but she was slightly happy to see her otherwise.

"Hey, Sophy."

Her sister gave her a slight smile and walked into the room.

"I'll leave you two," the nurse smiled. She left them alone, for the first time since the night they went out.

Sophy stood there, circling her foot on the tile. Judy just looked down at Nick. Neither spoke, they just soaked in the awkwardness of each other's presence.

"Judy?" Sophy muttered. She looked up from her concentration on Nick. "Can... Can I?" She motioned to stand next to her sister.

Even though Judy had a slight hint of aggression and anger still towards her sister, she couldn't hold it against her. Not when she came all this way to see her sister in aid.

Judy nodded slightly, using her other paw to pad the mattress, across from sleeping Nick.

Sophy smiled gratefully and found her way next to Judy. The dark brown rabbit pulled up a small stool, sliding it across the floor, making a loud, scratching screech.

That made Nick's ears flicker and twitch. He rustled in Judy's lap, and his claws scratched against the floor as he began to extend his limbs. He sat up in his own chair, and raised his arms above his head. He yawned wide, exposing his sharp canines.

Judy could see Sophy tense up to the sight of his teeth, as part of her instincts. Judy was more than comfortable around them.

He blinked at Judy and smiled radiantly. "Morning sleeping beauty" Judy teased.

"You know it" he laughed, giving her a quick wink. He then looked over at Sophy. "Oh, hi! I don't think we've met."

"Oh, yes. I'm one of Judy's sisters. Sophy," she introduced, reaching out a paw to shake. Nick extended his paw out, and they shook hands.

"Nice to meet you," he smiled. Then he looked back to Judy. "I'm gonna go get some coffee. You want any?"

"No, I'm fine. Thank you," she said, smiling widely.

"I'll be right back," he insisted. Judy nodded her head. He walked out of the room, and walked to the coffee maker. From Judy's room, he was still visible.

"He loves you," Sophy acknowledged. Judy looked at her with a languid expression. She was tired and groggy. "Doesn't he?"

Judy smiled softly, and looked back at Nick, who had another cup of coffee in his paws, talking and laughing with another officer. "Yes, yes he does." Soon after she spoke, he turned his attention back towards Judy, and smiled. That same smile that always gave her warmth in her heart. That same smile that she fell in love with all those months ago.

Judy looked at her sister, and smiled. She smiled back. But it soon faded as her complexion turned tense and she slumped forward in her seat, ears falling flat to her back.

"I'm sorry Judy..."

Judy looked at her sister. "Sophy it's okay. I'm fine now," she insisted. "There's no need to apologize." She went to hold her sisters paw, but she pulled away before Judy reached her.

"I'm not sorry about that," she explained. Judy drew a concerned expression across her face. "I mean... I am sorry for what happened to you. But... That's not what I'm getting at."

Before Judy had the chance to ask, Nick came back into their room, as both had their eyes directed at him. He stopped by the doctors desk, confused to why they both were staring at him. "Everything okay?"

Sophy spoke first. "If you would let me, I need to tell you something," she glanced at Nick, and then to Judy. "To both of you."

"What are you talking about?" Judy asked, concerned for what her sister was about to tell them. Nick soon found his way next to Judy, and sat back in his little chair, a curiosity in his eyes.

Sophy sighed. "Its about that night... When you and I went out..." She began.

"Sophy, I've come to terms with it. I know it's my fault." Judy thought that that memory was gone from her mind; now it all came back like a wave and her feelings of pain and heartache came with it. She looked over at Nick, and she saw it in his face. That he was starting to feel them too.

"No... It's not." She sighed again, this time heavier and with emotion. Like something was weighing her thoughts. "None of it was your fault. After we got to the bar, I saw that you were still thinking about the fight between you and Nick. When you went to the bathroom, that rabbit that was with you in your house, started talking to me. I told him that I wasn't interested. But that gave me an idea." Both Judy and Nick were listening intently. "I asked him if he had anything to slip. I told him about you and what you were going through. And I came up with a plan. I paid him and he gave me powdered ruffies to put in your drink. I ordered your drink and spiked your it. And after you drank it, you were so much happier. More lively. And that's when that buck came to talk to you."

Judy's face was contorting with anger, her eyes filled with a fire like none she had ever fueled. Nicks nose was scrunched and twitching. Both of their ears were down flat, scolding the rabbit.

"He knew who you were. All we wanted to do was perform a ruse on you to make you think that you two had slept with each other. Everything he told you was a lie. All of it was. I like Nick, Judy, I really do. But when you told me how hard he was pushing you on having sex, I... I just didn't want him hurting you and forcing you into something that you didn't want to do." She paused for a moment. "But now... Now that I see him here next to you, giving you support and comfort even after everything you two went through, I see now that what I did was more than just wrong. He does love you and I see that you love him too. All I can say is that I was being selfish, and irresponsible and a terrible sister. I know you won't forgive me, for any of this. I just hope you can understand what I was doing at that time..." She finally trailed off.

No one moved. For five minutes everyone was still. Sophy kept her head pointed at the ground. She couldn't look at her Judy, because she knew what type of look she was giving her: one of wanting to strangle her. The only noise that was heard was the heart monitor, and Judy's heavy, harbored breathing.

Her chest rose and sank as she breathed in heavy air into her small lungs. Her fists were clenched, and she looked ready to pounce out of the hospital bed.

"So..." She breathed out heavy. "You drugged me? And set me up with a rabbit who I _didn't_ end up sleeping with, that was all fake, and you allowed me to believe that what I did was all my fault? Just because you didn't want me to get hurt by someone who I was...am, in love with?" Her tone was stern and precise. She didn't skip a beat. Her heart monitor began beeping faster as adrenaline pumped.

"Judy, I-" she was cut off immediately.

"No! I don't want to hear it Sophy! You allowed everything, my whole life, to turn upside down because of what you did to me and Nick! What we do and say in our personal lives does not pertain to you!" She hollered at the top of her lungs. She was loud enough that a couple nurses and doctors looked into her room to see if she was okay.

"But you told me about it!" Sophy retorted.

"That doesn't matter," Nick chimed in at last. Both rabbits looked at him. Sophy had concern in her eyes. Judy was glad he did, because Sophy had never dealt with an argument with a fox, especially a fox that was clever beyond compare. "She's your sister. Your supposed to help her in her time of need, _not_ make decisions for her. And in doing so, you hurt more than just her and I. You've hurt everyone that cares about her. Including everyone in the ZPD."

He stood up for her. Again. But this time, it was to save her dignity, and the love she lost.

Judy could feel the power of his words echo through her mind. The Nick she knew and loved returned. She looked up to him, staring into his eyes and smiled. He looked down to her and smiled, lovingly.

Sophy was so stricken and lost for words, that she just sat there. Her eyes wide with fear, her ears flat on her back, and her mouth was open slightly.

Judy turned her attention back to her panic-stricken sister. "Now, you see Sophy? How much damage you've caused me? And Nick? You don't know half of the things that happened to me after that night." Judy was almost nose to nose with her sister. "Now, I'm not going to press charges on you, because you're my sister. But..." She moved so quickly towards her that Nick barely caught it. She grabbed her shirt and clenched it, now face to face. "I don't want to hear from you ever again, and I don't ever want to see you again. Because I swear on my life, I will hurt you so severely that you'll be in this bed next." The heart monitor was beeping twice as fast as it was before.

Her threat was more real than the threat she made against the buck. She was beyond angry with her sister, and her scowl was proof enough of that.

Sophy trembled in her paws. Fear filled her sisters eyes. Her only response was a small nod of her head.

"Now get out of here," she threatened, pushing her sister into her seat. It skidded about three feet backwards, almost falling over.

She got out of her seat and walked out without another word. Judy watched her sternly all the way to the door. Before she left, she stopped and looked back at both Judy and Nick. "I'm sorry..." She muttered.

After she left, they were left alone, finally.

"You were right, Carrots" Nick confessed, breaking the silence. He reached for her paw, and stroked her fur with his thumb

Judy looked up to him. "About what?" She was calm now. Her breathing slowed down to now normal, slow exhales.

"Everything. It wasn't your fault. And I'm sorry for what you had to go through, and what you must've been feeling. And I'm sorry for the terrible things I said about you. But now that we have the truth," he grabbed her other paw. "I think we can finally get back what we had."

Judy's ears crept up slowly, her face warm with happiness. "You mean-" Nick placed his lips on hers before she could finish. And they stayed that way for a long time, allowing the love that they thought was broken, come back to life. They looked into each other's loving eyes, and smiled into their kiss.

They parted. "Yes. I want to be with you again, Carrots. You were the only thing that I could think about, even after I... Split us up." A single tear ran down his cheek. "I love you."

Judy's heart wanted to jump out of her chest. With all these emotions coming out, filling the room with intoxicating remorse, she grabbed his paw now, and rubbed her fingers through his corse fur. "Come here Nick," she said, pulling him closer into her. She wrapped all she could around his broad shoulders, while he had no trouble embracing her warmth. "You foxes, you're so emotional" she teased.

"Of course. Us foxes are very emotional when we want to be" he chuckled. Judy didn't have to look to see that he was wearing a sly grin on his face.

She laughed. "Dumb fox."

"Sly bunny."

**********

Visitors came and went. Officers that hadn't had the chance to see Judy came by throughout the days. More and more of her family came by too, just to see how she was doing. Everyday she got stronger. The nurse would give her walking exercises to note how far she was able to walk without any pain.

The first day was a disaster. Judy could hardly stand at all, her legs weak from being in the bed for so long. But Nick was there through it all, helping her in any way he could. Getting her food, drinks, a foot and shoulder massage when she was sore, and any other accommodations she needed.

Stu had left to go back to Bunny Burrow for farming issues, but her mother had stayed for another week, changing out flowers in her room every other day, buying her new clothing so Judy didn't have to wear the old, raggedy clothing.

But Nick being Nick, insisted that he buy them instead of her mom. And everyday she would thank him.

"Thank you, Nicholas. Stu and I really appreciate all that you've done for our little Judy."

He shrugged. "It's the least I can do for her, Mrs. Hopps."

She gave him a warm hug, being able to wrap her arms all the way around his waste. "You're a blessing to all of us Nick. Including Judy. She's lucky to have you."

She was looking into his eyes as she said that. He smiled back, thankful, feeling jittery in his stomach.

Bonnie left that same day. But before she did, she left with a motherly note. "I'm happy to see you two back in full spirits. When Stu and I heard about what had happened, we were truly heartbroken. You've helped change our views on foxes Nicholas, and we thank you for that."

He thanked her kindly, and she was off, back to Bunny Burrow.

It had been two weeks in intensive care for Judy, and the days were long. But with Nick with her there for every day of it, she was productive at least. He brought card games, knitting materials, and a couple of her favorite books.

Nick ran out of card ideas the first couple hours, Judy read a few chapters of her books, but she found a new interest in knitting. She found that it made time go by much faster than anything else Nick had brought; not that she wasn't thankful for him doing so.

And she got pretty good at it too. She made a scarf and a matching wash cloth. She made a scarf for Nick, orange and black with a hint of green mixed in, showing his personality and colors to match him, and she cloned hers from his, just gray and violet compared to his orange and black. It was for winter time of course, so they didn't need them at the moment.

While the now productive rabbit sat and began to make a hat, she remembered something that she had forgotten to ask.

"Hey, Nick?" He looked up from his marveling of the scarf. "Do you know how I survived the gunshot? I've been meaning to ask for a little bit now."

His ears drew down from her question. "Yeah, I've been meaning to tell you about it too. I was just waiting for the right time to tell you," he had a brooding tone. Reliving the memory of that night was hard for him to tell, especially, reliving it.

"After you were shot, paramedics took you, and I went along..."

  
**4:35 a.m**

The ambulance flew through the streets of Zootopia, weaving in and out of cars that were now heading their way to work. The red lights and blaring sirens rang as cars moved to the side, out of the way of the emergency vehicle.

Nick, who was inside the cab of it, sat next to Judy, holding onto her paw for dear life. She had an oxygen mask over her mouth, and IVs in her arm. Her eyes were closed and her arms lay flat on the stretcher, her breaths faintly fogging the mask.

A zebra nurse was frantically rummaging around in the drawers and cabinets. He grabbed Flexeril, a muscle relaxant, and stuck a needle into her leg.

"This will stop her muscles from tensing up, but that won't matter if we can't get her a blood transfusion. And soon." His actions were urgent, and Nicks' grip on Judy tightened. "Does she have any family members available?"

Nick looked at the nurse, and then to Judy. The pain in his eyes was excruciating. He stared at the wound, her blood soaked into the bandages packed into the wound.

"No, her family lives far away from here." He was emotional. His feelings were off the charts.

"Well if we can't find a donor within the next hour, she's going to bleed out. Her wounds are more extensive than we had previously thought."

His eyes widened. "How bad is it?"

"The intestines were badly injured and are able to be repaired. But her kidney was nicked. Slightly, but it's bleeding. A little more excessively. We can temporarily stop the bleeding for now, but she's going to need blood regardless."

His lip quivered in fear and sorrow.

But the more he thought about it, the more determined he became. "What about mine?"

"Yours?"

"Yes, mine. Would I be able to give her blood?"

"I'm not sure thats even possible, let alone doable. You're completely different species."

"I don't care! We have to at least try! My blood type is DEA 1.1. It's rare but can be used in any other blood transfusions. I know there has to be a way for this to work."

The nurse looked at him as if he were crazy. Silently mocking him.

"Please" he softly pleaded. "She can't die. Not like this. Not if there's a way for me to save her life." He looked at the nurse with pleading eyes.

The nurse sighed, finally giving in. "It hasn't been used that much, since blood transfusions between different species rarely ever happens. It's called DSBT, or in short, Different Species Blood Transfusions. It changes the blood content of any animals blood to match the receivers' blood. And it doesn't take long to do."

Nick listened, and the more he did, the more he wanted to go through with it.

They arrived at the hospital a few minutes later, doctors awaiting for their arrival. They swung the back doors open and emptied the cargo out of the vehicle. Three doctors pushed Judy down the hallway, exclaiming to everyone around them to move out of their way.

Nick watched as Judy disappeared behind the doors to the emergency room. Another doctor directed him into another part of the hospital. Worry overcame Nick now that he wasn't next to Judy.

She found a room and Nick followed. He half expected the machine that processed the blood was going to be some gigantic, wire filled monstrosity. But when he took glance at it, it was smaller than he anticipated. About the size of a large refrigerator.

He gave the doctor his information: name, species, birthdate, blood type and anything else that she needed.

"Mr. Wilde, this will only take a few moments," the doctor, a brown bear, explained. He was much larger than Nick, and he felt puny.

He took off his uniform shirt, and laid down on the bed that was set out. The doctor took his finger and searched for a vein in his arm. Finding one, he wrapped a band around his right arm.

He had never given blood before. He was nervous to say the least, but more than reluctant to give. He needed to, no, had to.

The doctor stuck the needle into his vein, making him wince in surprise. It wasn't as bad as he thought it was, I just felt weird. The doctor gave him a stress ball, telling him to squeeze for a couple seconds, and then release.

"We are going to take two pints of your blood Mr. Wilde, so you may feel a little drowsy after this. We're not sure how much blood your partner is going to need, so we just want to make sure."

Nick nodded in understanding. "Take as much as you need, Doctor. As long as she makes it, I don't care how much you take." The doctor nodded in reply.

The process took about thirty minutes. About ten minutes to take the blood out and then into the machine.  
  
Another doctor rushed in as the blood samples were complete. She took them and ran back to surgery, where Judy was being prepped.

"You're all done, officer" the doctor said, wrapping a red bandage around the injection spot.

Nick smiled slightly to him, then glanced at his arm. "Can... Can I come with you? I'd like to be there during the surgery."

"Of course, officer. Follow me," he smiled.

Nick followed reluctantly, not sure whether he was going to like what he was about to witness.

He paced next to the doctor, down to separate hallways, a left here, a right there, another left... Like an endless maze. And soon, the doctor stopped at a pair of two windows; and across the window, doctors surrounded a table, around a now unconscious Judy. A tube for her airway protruded from her mouth.

"Thank you," Nick thanked, giving the doctor a smile.

He nodded and walked off, flipping through files of patients he had to attend to.

He turned back to the glass window, and stared as the operation unfold.

  
************

 

An hour passed with no complications. Judy was now stable. The bleeding stopped with the help of rework and stitches. She was able to breath on her own now, but the doctors kept a close eye on her.

Nick sat with her for as long as possible every chance he could get.

"Please wake up soon, Carrots. I need you." He whispered to her, lightly caressing her cheek.

  
**Present**

  
"And after that, I waited for you to wake up."

Judy was awestruck. She had no words for him. Just amazement in her eyes.

"So... What you're saying is... I have your blood in me?"

"Well, to say the least, yes. You have my blood in you." He smiled at her.

Judy's lip quivered. Tears filled her eyes. Nick placed a comforting paw on her shoulder, a concerned expression on his face.

She then jumped out of her seat, and wrapped her arms around his neck. Her wound was still tender, but she paid it no mind. She rubbed her cheeks against his fur, soaking it with her tears. Her small cries were only loud enough for him to hear.

"Nick..." She whimpered.

"Hey, hey," he whispered, trying to calm her down. "It's okay Carrots. It's okay."

She breathed in twice, heaving in air. "You saved me Nick."

He hugged her tighter. "I had to Judy. I love you. And I couldn't watch you die. Because if you died, then I would have no reason to live."

Judy temporarily stopped crying and chuckled. "Don't tease me, Nick."

He lightened his grip around her, and looked her in her eyes. "I'm being serious, Carrots." And he was. Very serious.

All Judy could do was smile and her sly fox. "I know, Nick. And I'm glad you said that." She grabbed his paw and placed her other on his right cheek. "Because I feel the same way about you Nick. I can't live without you. You're my whole world. You're my dumb fox."

He smiled devotedly. "And you're my sly bunny." He placed his lips on hers, and there they stayed, for moments that was forever.

  
*********

  
After three months of slow recovery and physical therapy, both Nick and Judy were back, stronger than ever. And in celebration for her recovery, Nick took her out. To a familiar sight called Stones Brothers' restaurant.

It was a familiar spot for both of them. Same seat, same orders, and the same loving couple they were before. It had been a long time since they both went out, especially in nice dress clothes. He wore a black tux with a red bow tie, while Judy wore a light brown dress with a darker brown belt with a gold plated buckle.

They laughed, ate, and drank wine, under the light of candle-light. And at there table, a bouquet of the same green and violet rose that Judy recognized all too well. Nick tugged on his shirt, his scent was on edge.

Judy caught on. "Are you okay Nick? You seem a little... Nervous."

He laughed and tugged his collar more. "Well... Kind of. Yeah."

"What's going on Nick? Normally you're not this... Romantic" she admitted.

Nick lifted an eyebrow and smirked, looking at her with a furtive gaze. "Well, I wanted to make things up to you, Carrots. Since it's been a while since you and I've had a dinner like this."

The face Judy was making told him that she wasn't buying it.

"It seems I can't anything past you, can I?" He sighed. She crossed her arms demandingly, raising an eyebrow. "Alright. Here goes," he began.

"Do you remember that morning, when I came by to see you?" She nodded. "And do you remember me saying, 'I've got presents'?"

She nodded again. "Where are you going with this, Nick? I thought we were past all that."

"Oh... No no no no no! We are! I'm talking about before that all happened," he rose his paw in defense.

Trying not to even bring the slightest memory of that night, she shook her head. "Yeah, I remember. Why?"

"Well, you already know about the rose. But... I also had something else."

Judy's heart began to beat faster, anticipation in her bones. And Nick's heart thumped loudly, their hearts synchronizing as one.

"I love you Judy. More than anything else in this world. And I know you love me just the same, probably even more so. I know it's late to say this, but I think now is the perfect time to say it. I'm sorry for pushing you the way I did. I was ready and you weren't. And I should've accepted that in the first place. But, we don't need to have sex just to prove that we love each other."

Judy's pulse was higher than it's been in so long. Her nose was twitching in anticipation, and her foot thudded softly under the table.

"And I'd be willing to give all that up... If it means that I can be with you." He continued. "That being said, I've come to the conclusion that I want you to be with me for the rest of my life. So..."

Judy thought her heart was going to jump out of her chest as he walked a couple steps towards her, and kneeled on one knee. She gasped loudly, covering her mouth with her paws. Her face and ears turned red, and tears started forming on the edges of her eyes.

He pulled out a small, black velvet box from his tuxedo pocket. He used his free paw to open the lid, exposing a ring unlike Judy had ever seen. The ring was twenty-four karat gold, with two different stones: an emerald and the next was amethyst. It looked just like the roses.

"Judy Hopps?" Her tears came out. But they were happy tears. "Will you marry me?"

Those words. Those words that she had always dreamed of being asked. The words she would say "yes" to. To the one she loved with all her heart. And here he was. Her fox, her love, her entire world, on one knee, asking her to be his wife.

She had no words. She couldn't even mutter a sound, due to all the emotions running through her. More over-joyed than anything else. With the look in his eyes, she knew he wasn't joking. He wanted this. And so did she.

Removing her paws away from her mouth, she shook her head frantically up and down, accepting his proposal. He smiled widely, like he always did when he was happy. And that was always when he was with her.

Her grabbed her paw, and slipped the ring over her finger. Perfect fit. She then jumped out of her seat and wrapped her body around Nick. He knew what was coming. His arms were open before she saw them. He too, wrapped around her small body, picking her up. Her legs wrapped his waste while he held her up with his hands from underneath.

Claps and cheers roared through the restaurant. They both looked, and there, standing around the room were their friends from the ZPD that had been undercover until the proposal. Nick had planned it all so perfectly, that Judy thought she was dreaming.

Bogo whistled, Clawhauser cried, and the other animals clapped and cheered. They both smiled to them, and kept their smiles as they looked back at each other.

"Is this everything you've ever wanted?"

Her violet eyes glowed with glee. "You're everything I've wanted."

Nick's smile got wider than it ever had before. His eyes were brilliant green while her eyes turned a shade of lighter purple.

"I love you, my beautiful, sly bunny."

"I love you too, my handsome, dumb fox."

And their kisses lasted the rest of the night. Their bond with each other was sealed.


End file.
